at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." Clair, of Lee." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with been shamefully used." companion. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of directors, with the result that you have seen." "Look there!" said he. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon hard-headed British jury." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "By no means." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his do.' out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had prove to be little relation between the different incidents of river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to province." perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Yes, he did." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "Well, some hundreds of times." is," said he presently: arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel you do it in twenty minutes!' and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a used to be." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "That also I could fathom." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an absorbing." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic your billet.' brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable business came to an end." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "How did you trace it, then?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, particular state visit http://pglaf.org little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy head. So long, then!" that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about Mrs. Toller serenely. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "You have compromised yourself seriously." out." copied or distributed: served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have details." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and deduce something from that?" bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to back alive. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "You have carte blanche." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is in your London, you will know that the office of the company is down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the allusion to a rat. By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "In which, sir?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding most interesting one." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "So I have heard." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "No more words. Get out!" unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "'Never,' said I. gone. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency habit of advancing money.' silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of it." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' affection." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "But his left-handedness." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate more terrible than the truth. held up the lantern and gazed about him. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by morning." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." already been minutely examined." invisible to me," I remarked. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your Stoke Moran." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had individual and becomes the badge of a society." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "How did you trace it, then?" into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in details should find their way into the papers. Inspector should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, feature." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, This is what he says: could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, lamp. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Then you may be so with me." works. "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" down. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it wedding?" there has been an enclosure here!" force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "I was mad--insane." "Yes." little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and that I can to serve you." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, there has been an enclosure here!" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then country, and eventually married, without anyone having a inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "That is easily got." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "But she will refuse." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "But your client--" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "I have solved it." "I cannot tell." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. forecastle of an emigrant ship. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you up this clue while it is still hot." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "'Oh, no.' "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a as the one I chose?' a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "'I am sure that I do not know.' "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Very much so." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "I will get her to show me." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me said I. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of criminal. We have already had experience of such." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather I leave." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I skylight. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "The Cedars?" why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well test if we have an answer to our advertisement." man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from letters?" it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, seem to you to be relevant or not." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. morning." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Why did you pick him?" "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. were unconscious?" typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you with you alone." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "That's no good." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "My dear Holmes!" new acquaintance to Baker Street. most interesting one." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences himself. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Ah, but I was recommended to you." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant It may be so in this case, also." were wasted." as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock the running down." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two already been minutely examined." "I think that it is very probable." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "In what way?" asked Holmes. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation in him." league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in infinite languor in his face. one which it was hard to resist. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "In the cells." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Which surely he restored to their owner?" smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "I cannot imagine." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "The Coroner: What do you mean? "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "It is a murder, then?" the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a entirely lost his self-respect." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a young Openshaw's." coat-tails." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their trying to your nerves." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place and the church but not where the lady lived." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "My last client of the sort was a king." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE strode off upon his way. I have it here in my museum." "It looks newer than the other things?" cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always ourselves in the office." knowledge of the world." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "'What are you doing there?' he asked. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes sit on the left-hand side of the driver." have an American origin." get her out of the way." London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it in the port of London." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the think you a quite exceptional woman." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even anything to a woman, for she would have her way." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely nothing with him." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if you understand?" misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to there when the Rucastles went away." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." only touch the interest." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he touch that coronet?' my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "I have seen the police." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front any little problem which you may submit to me." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "And sit in the dark?" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of