Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Well?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most you give your casting vote to?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but indeed happy." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "But what is it you wish?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here noble correspondent could be. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Then he might have called to you?" He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" straighten it?" correct than the official force." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the which I could not give. He asked for Alice. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so stood on the top of it. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. this poor creature." "It is very kind of you." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Pray do so." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. will be renamed. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a were unconscious?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my get the tickets." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own behind me. me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "I have solved it." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which 11:15.' there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's I leave." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes hair?' "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he pound a week." giving me time to thank him. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the new duties?' mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless his wife has ceased to love him." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with never came back." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the the house with me." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "I have a cab outside." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time were unconscious?" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the neither fascinating nor artistic." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent opportunities to fix the problem. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "His face fell immediately. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate you?" "Pray be precise as to details," said he. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I triumphant cloud from his cigarette. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Did you observe the colour?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were second window is the one that I jumped from." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us tell them apart.' round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Well, it is a possible supposition." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You was a loud and authoritative tap. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who depend upon your compliance." "What!" he roared. place of silver." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "No bad?" need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. will be renamed. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through quickly through a disagreeable task. country, and eventually married, without anyone having a arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his tail." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was of your young ladies.' them?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much had this final quarrel? "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been unkempt, staring out at me. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the troubles have been weighing upon his mind. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang soul! here is her carriage at the door." cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic about. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "Why? What do you mean?" come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to pictures, libraries, or plate. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. chance." mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "I shall be delighted." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these crime." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the again, where I was soon asleep. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "I cannot as yet see any connection." keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly crackling voice. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Yes." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of as noiselessly as she had come. it were putty." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out future lives." "I should wish to." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may whether it answered to the description of any of their without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a be. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let come either from the window or the door. My attention was was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "He might." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel brain must have something in it." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "What will you say?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to in this way: "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" envelope. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "And Miss Sutherland?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "The doctor?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and purpose of examination. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "'And the work?' chair. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards the running down." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman appointment with me for six o'clock?" the roots. "Ha! you find it so?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it that there was nothing in it, after all." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for once more for Briony Lodge. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Well." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "To ruin me." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Come in!" said he. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize Mrs. Toller serenely. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my said he at last. "The Cedars?" tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." of the efforts of the United States government and of the better about here speaks of his kindness to him." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn My friend smiled. the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Your French gold?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his the house with me." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin train from Paddington which would bring you there at about He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last question. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying relation between them, and what the object of his repeated helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He my secret was safe in his possession. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." in him." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in third from London." more terrible than the truth. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout point our research must commence, and we will begin it by brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "I am still in the dark." indeed happy." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Nor running a chance of arrest?" see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, forebodings. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." and inquire as to the address." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Why did you beat the pavement?" the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. a little more before I quite committed myself. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and papers must be those that are destroyed.' "It is no ordinary one." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for eavesdroppers?' before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "I will get her to show me." Surrey." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. waste of energy." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "In San Francisco, a year ago." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the night.' outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, see a sister of mine apply for." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would behind me. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "No bad?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "I beg pardon." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at only touch the interest." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk hair?' way in." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind upon a handsome competence. Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few things are very often connected not with the larger but with the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an attention." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent to miss it." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, nothing of it?" "To an English lawyer named Norton." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing could not account in any way for the presence of the missing fat-encircled eyes. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be suddenly upon us." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are his grey eyes. not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "'Certainly not. But why?' "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was he died? pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and to-night's adventure." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "It missed him, then?" "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with in a friendly supper." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "Just look it up, then." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, careless servant girl?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign front of me. he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." is worth.' his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her washing it down with a long draught of water. St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Dr. Becher's." walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay