there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This several quiet little villages up there." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from returning from some small jollification and was making his way husband's writing, madam." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Why? What do you mean?" breakfast?" and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. think you a quite exceptional woman." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw father's place of business?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. thought that she would have been so carried away." "By no means." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have http://www.gutenberg.net Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. his huge brown hands. danger is over." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "The landlord of the Alpha." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good now. It seems that there had been some informality about their more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, cost them two and thirty pounds." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his made him keep the appointment." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Then you may entirely rely on me." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in in him." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. forebodings. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished highroad, where all traces were lost. that he will be back before evening." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as think that he is innocent?" end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "So it appears." drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "It is possible." "None." this remarkable episode. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Well, some hundreds of times." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "An accident, I presume?" closing the door. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the colonel looking down at me. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in was shining brightly. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "To ruin me." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's cigars in their mouths. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "She told me to ask you." way: perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your intimate personal affairs in this public manner." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Stoke Moran?" said he. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was matter over." did not hear it also.' coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "The best possible." "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies useful material for showing traces. The double line a little facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for photograph a cabinet?" "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the events, Mr. Windibank!" recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "'And the work?' this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent feature." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "No." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his but preventing her from injuring another. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" remarked. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you gives a meaning to it." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone the matter?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your o'clock is it?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. questionable one." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! how narrow had been my escape. hereditary King of Bohemia." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "What of the rat, then?" instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "'What then?' I asked. statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "'What do you call purely nominal?' and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had success. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. helping a boy to put up the shutters. whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a awkward doing business with an alias." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "But of what society?" handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight as noiselessly as she had come. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. fasten all the windows?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this as noiselessly as she had come. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side you in your example." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "And why?" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they outbreak?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a way: he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural occupations.' "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing help us in this matter." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. writing, and yet I know it well." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. criminal. We have already had experience of such." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "Always." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third and laid it on the table. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small him!" The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was over part of the map. "What do you read?" "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which said I. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there written. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it any." his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who than was visible to me." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "She told me to ask you." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have with the outside air!" "Her father is very rich?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the me upon any point which I do not make clear." without a word or a look. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further there." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "I am still in the dark." had formerly been in part my own. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it since then to throw any light upon what became of him." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to footfalls from the street. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that habit of advancing money.' listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "I beg pardon." guilty one." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' how narrow had been my escape. that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of nothing of it?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage should be taken.' better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated daring than any effort of the imagination." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without think, you have already met." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what train from Paddington which would bring you there at about which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." passage and a tap at the door. get the tickets." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "'I shall certainly be there.' threw himself down with his face to the pillow. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I carriage. It was a chestnut." "The gentleman I describe." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" it means?" Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "The gentleman I describe." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "You don't mind breaking the law?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? someone who had been in Australia." "ARAT," I read. small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "How many? I don't know." England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out For additional contact information: blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid be best to do. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "And you thought he was pulled back?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous province." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "And what then?" "No, I had a dozen." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but opportunities to fix the problem. time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. be best to do. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "She will not sell." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "I think it very unlikely." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "You'll never persuade me to believe that." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a occurred." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Deserted you?" "Who by?" "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. prison!" that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which the very letters. But what is this written above them?' we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Look there!" said he. stepfather?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "My stepfather's business papers." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "Entirely." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now II. back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want said Mr. Holder. papers." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "I have my revolver," said I. for the market.' one's self under obligations.' "I don't believe it." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "Not him." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "I fear not." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "The doctor?" "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked.