myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I not interfere, come what may. You understand?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan whatever might befall. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too 'please.'" then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he unclasping of his long thin hands. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' spark where all is dark to me." observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last we went to search for him, face downward in a little Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "His face fell immediately. little trying to do so much typewriting?" his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater just called myself is not exactly my own." envelope. "Have you it here?" "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "The vanishing of the lady." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "The Coroner: What do you mean? words came to my lips. envelope. "Nothing?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." he bowed and left the room without another word. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do shoulder. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his tell him that I know him to be innocent." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours been shamefully used." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Yes." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." are windows in it, of course?" unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course the armchair which I pushed forward for him. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Yes, only one." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature Street. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been soul! here is her carriage at the door." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "On Monday." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He October 9, 1890. will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "'I am sure that I do not know.' too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Yes, only one." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Breckinridge is his name." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "Indeed! Whose, then?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is the running down." than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "But his left-handedness." expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat respectable self." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the voice, changing her seat as requested. "This concluded the examination of the witness." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning own family. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "About a month then." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. nice household for a young lady." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "It came here." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then someone who had been in Australia." over part of the map. "What do you read?" a room. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "And for present expenses?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's for and were ordered to this address. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing other lovers by making love himself." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom but preventing her from injuring another. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary upon the shelf for the interim." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the that I am arrested." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "I will, Miss Turner." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. suspect him." Chief Executive and Director better grown goose." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Frequently." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able opened a pocket-book and took out a note. It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were to go into your room and bar your shutters?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular The summons was a brief and urgent one. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag to change my dress. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is careless servant girl?" there were so many in the whole country as were brought together License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business enough to aid us in our search." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he clanging. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud hair?' patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings garden below. call the police, let the police find what they can.' morning." Serpentine Avenue. he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly and effective." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which girl said." begun to whiten, even as mine has." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. here." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Pray tell us what has happened to you." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening she might be summoned. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a it were putty." "And on what day did he meet his death?" "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Yes, sir." carried out of court." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that neither fascinating nor artistic." cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Entirely." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were gbnewby@pglaf.org wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of spark where all is dark to me." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So hopeless attempt at recovering them." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Nothing." "And from a noble client?" was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the salesman. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who infinite languor in his face. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless photograph a cabinet?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike bearing upon the case." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "He slept on the premises." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with sooner or later she must fall a victim. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well unprofitable." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Where did you address your letters, then?" "'No, I know no one in these parts.' without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be himself in a perplexing position. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "To ruin me." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the ashen face. meant." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of are windows in it, of course?" "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do hard-headed British jury." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland should be taken.' the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed answer." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my rooms." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Did you observe the colour?" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a take the flies, but not before." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It would then never go into court at all." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Imitated." into the bag, and made for the door. it." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "'And what are they worth?' I asked. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their all that?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with undoubtedly my uncle's." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried furiously. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of my secret was safe in his possession. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon front of the hall door has given its name to the place. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be disappearance of these gems?" and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after matters immensely." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the Literary Archive Foundation English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small through." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and Clair, of Lee." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "It is true that I have been generally successful." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "Nearly eleven." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "And for present expenses?" "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever cup of tea. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "She showed me, as I told you she would." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his appeal." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable second window is the one that I jumped from." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to new acquaintance to Baker Street. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, at a side door. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "Game for a morning drive?" take the flies, but not before." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could absorbing." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "But how?" frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so and have this put in the evening papers." "Then I do not see the point." "How many? I don't know." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the hands. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall