"He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow late." and no precautions can guard against." you in your example." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "If I can be of use." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "It is true that I have been generally successful." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." chamber." card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he reach." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down his knees, staring into the fire. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Foundation "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Yes, at the mines." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "But how could you guess what the motive was?" I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or was used.' a very grave face. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I bears upon the case?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this certainly do as you advise." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by companion quietly. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. Miss Holder?" thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "No, I think that I'll take it." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through pictures, libraries, or plate. and the colonel ushered me in. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and was a loud and authoritative tap. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt woman who has had her own way to make in the world. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "'I am sure that I do not know.' if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. works. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "I see many objections to any such theory." money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and to a light-house. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "I have hopes." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up it." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian bore every mark of being an average commonplace British was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in side. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "That was it, sir." have been better. It is all right." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Proceed, then." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling learned something! Where are the gems?" silent! Oh, he will be silent!' eavesdroppers?' one else, I think." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend your most interesting statement." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and distinguish the words: "No, finished." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "But it has twice been burgled." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." beyond words. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "That also I could fathom." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, served to weaken the effect. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "What then?" "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of entirely lost his self-respect." for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Yes, he did." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but questioning and rather startled gaze. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had signal between you and your father? "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." Clair, of Lee." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, new acquaintance to Baker Street. have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Where to?" continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "We were both in the photograph." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us come either from the window or the door. My attention was abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Yes. He waved his hands." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my point our research must commence, and we will begin it by brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit My friend smiled. the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "And you can do nothing until then?" can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition people don't know." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case leaning back in his chair. his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "On your arm?" feature." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Yes." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be perplexity from it to my illustrious client. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a experiences." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "But I have heard all that you have heard." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "To the police?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than interested in these little problems, and since you are good disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door highroad, where all traces were lost. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry true." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "But I have heard all that you have heard." you." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "This concluded the examination of the witness." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this this Miss Turner." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "You have a clue?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's made him keep the appointment." glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from be. "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it shall use the carriage to-night." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Murdered?" the loss of it. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "I promise," said Holmes. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as me upon any point which I do not make clear." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "'You cannot say what it was?' come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." both be extremely obliged.' "Yes." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that considering the formidable letters which were received by himself round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "It is possible." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very someone who had been in Australia." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch tail." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. "They are typewritten," I remarked. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that introspective fashion. "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a digesting their breakfasts at home." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "Yes, only one." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "Then, as to money?" We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several advice." only touch the interest." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the details." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Have you her photograph?" house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make man. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Pray do so." "'Yes.' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been Edgeware Road. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "I shall be delighted." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "'Quite sure, dad.' "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" husband's writing, madam." I nodded to show that I had heard. "That is it on the dressing-table." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. the Red-headed League." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came mysterious end." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "'Very good.' of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "None." "Ha! you find it so?" every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up the little opening for the ventilator is." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set 1.F. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would putting in the horse. distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first DISSOLVED. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his little adventures." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective such person." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the here and I will read it to you: meant." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "I have come for advice." facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "You heard nothing yourself last night?" from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' long narrative. "Come in!" said he. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency question. "So it appears." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it room?" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a dear old homesteads?" was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the me have 200 pounds?' "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "It is no ordinary one." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my occupations.' his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "But his left-handedness." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not charged with?" "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how lumber-room." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "I will not look." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "I have come for advice." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Yes." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the events, Mr. Windibank!" for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so