unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Street. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me You want to know what became of those geese?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which less than 26s. 4d. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "It is possible." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad some terrible trap for her." with her." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal go from here to the Strand." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. felt the room to be a little close.' promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no The King stared at him in amazement. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with excitement. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in system of imprisonment?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "What is it?" "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the maid will bring up your coffee." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as with frightened eyes at his accuser. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may experiences." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." evidence," I remarked. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "You horrify me." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges to talk it over. whether it answered to the description of any of their in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "How did that help you?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked of a light. "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." sofa. This way, please!" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Texas, I think." like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." new duties?' could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith colonel looking down at me. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to in your London, you will know that the office of the company is looking up at the numbers of the houses." "Yes." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "But I am all in the dark." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Dr. Becher's." garden below. may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on chill to my heart. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be see me here to avoid scandal." drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he locked." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "At the wedding breakfast." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but eavesdroppers?' "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." already referred to. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It business came to an end." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Holmes' room. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "'I am sure that I do not know.' from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for that "Dark enough and sinister enough." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the King without delay." "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a me have 200 pounds?' "I have seen the police." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls head. So long, then!" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my that there was nothing in it, after all." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Yes." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "None." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." matters immensely." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite guilty one." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a ways of our fellow-men." the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. Watson," he said cordially. really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Ah!" bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "But she will refuse." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "It certainly sounds feasible." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Pool. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel points to suicide?" of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the the loss of it. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body presented more singular features than that which was associated it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "A greater distance to travel." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your bird of prey. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment speckled band?" and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, business came to an end." phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "'Is purely nominal.' He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" I leave." "I cannot imagine." business." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an frequently gained my first real insight into the character of be best to do. strength." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Yesterday." have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Dr. Becher's." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive minor matters until to-morrow." newspaper selections." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "He slept on the premises." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to little adventures." IS "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Did you observe the colour?" dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to distinguish the words: "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "What will you do, then?" rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Married! When?" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "No bad?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham forecastle of an emigrant ship. client, rising. seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford geese which you supplied to the Alpha." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "My dear Holmes!" dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "How do you know, then?" distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work three of the beryls in it, was missing. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "I answered that I had not. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "'And the work?' these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." Pope's Court. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "I am sure." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Then, as to money?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. cup of tea. was feeling which was the fattest.' thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Will you bet, then?" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the child." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and was a lad." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been have accepted such a situation. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, Where does the thing come from?' "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather nights." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue said he. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been is worth.' "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a public press." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "And help." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "'Yes, sir.' me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little situation." "But your client--" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so you." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country and inquire as to the address." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "How many? I don't know." village inn over there?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "'A dozen yards or so.' law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "And you thought he was pulled back?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and What do you deduce from it?" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident simple cases which are so extremely difficult." became a certainty. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the it. upon an income of about 60 pounds." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and this Miss Turner." help us in this matter." "It missed him, then?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "This photograph!" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the loss of it. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of have established a very serious case against the son of the "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was himself to hunt down. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the it." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me appeared upon the scene." and wait." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow think, you have already met." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the events than those which have happened in my own family." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "And your father? Did you tell him?" side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, gone. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "He said too much." brandy and water within his reach. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which detective. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I I nodded to show that I had heard. and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as that I can to serve you." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?"