"Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a as noiselessly as she had come. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid in. hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. is acting for the best. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "It is very clear." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and I approached. and laid it on the table. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "It is possible." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Yes, sir." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "You think so, too?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away before the coroner and the police-court." focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you get the tickets." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And to go into your room and bar your shutters?" passage and a tap at the door. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." silent! Oh, he will be silent!' heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his was a loud and authoritative tap. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do that there was nothing in it, after all." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "But how?" "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." chambers. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have went to the Alpha were town bred." explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his 'I should be able to look after that for you.' she might be summoned. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "Is he quiet?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train distance from the station, and there we found the young lady it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, to have that photograph." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like province." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." point in the dark hollow of his hand. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow believe that I should never have any practice at all. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Yes, certainly." "And sit in the dark?" "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and room had already been engaged for us. "I would pay ten." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my retorted upon me, and I on you." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I this unhappy family?" morning." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from done what I asked you, Jones?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, bill, which interests me deeply." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at narrative." visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an at my own good fortune. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of looking up at the numbers of the houses." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, problems help me to do so." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "It is true that I have been generally successful." undoubtedly my uncle's." "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "None." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "Not in a good cause." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little may have an influence upon European history." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "He is dead," cried several voices. recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "There are none." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "But you have hopes?" showing my impatience. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which held up the lantern and gazed about him. put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." in this way: congratulate you again." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "That is it on the dressing-table." notes," he said. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged cigar and let me expound." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take other means.' place no limit on the sum I may draw." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my gone. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Murdered?" comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. minor matters until to-morrow." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and she to prove their authenticity?" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it round and wave him away like that.' the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "It is his hat." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and tied." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out three of the beryls in it, was missing. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with more solid." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the disappearance of these gems?" going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "By all means." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him and have this put in the evening papers." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it room. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from over part of the map. "What do you read?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are felt the room to be a little close.' "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "Nearly eleven." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "The landlord of the Alpha." returned to France?" you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "'A dozen yards or so.' the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before hour." kindly on the shoulder. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose arrangements." himself in a perplexing position. at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "You have carte blanche." "We have tried and failed." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed present." companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to because she had spent so short a time in this country that she any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with place of silver." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down I. grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "Then, how do you know?" the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has night.' said he. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in even so self-evident a thing as that." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "She will not sell." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you Does that suggest anything?" and capable of preserving a secret.' what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully not interfere, come what may. You understand?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "That was it, sir." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I hurried away. of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is acting for the best. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the gigantic client. I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Sutherland?" "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which better grown goose." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is for the market.' takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "What have you done?" asked Holmes. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. 1.E.9. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might the running down." house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in villagers almost as much as their master. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a you found me to-night--and running through the front room she bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind during that time.' suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for becomes even more simple." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here his grey eyes. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "It is half-past ten now." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given chemical work which was so dear to him. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the roused himself from his reverie. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and recover the gem." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "'Where to?' the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "VIOLET HUNTER." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat him to go away.' (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk business came to an end." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" a room. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to too. whole matter to your consideration." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "I should like to see him very much." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." My friend smiled. him and tried to hold him back. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop I nodded to show that I had heard. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Well, it is a possible supposition." "One?" very morning of my second wedding." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander the salesman. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering should be taken.' 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of out of this horrible affair." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion tightly behind him. article?" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, strength of mind to control. Sutherland?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her again, where I was soon asleep. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very This is what he says: Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. and it need not interfere very much with one's other sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. it." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can rooms." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Will you go?" professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Yes, sir." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it crime." "Certainly, madam." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found morning." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "What is it, then--a fire?" expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his three of the beryls in it, was missing. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "And why?" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying client, rising. dead, shall be safe with us." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features up this clue while it is still hot." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "Yes, but only for you and me." "No." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "I should wish to." "And Miss Sutherland?" go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." there when the Rucastles went away." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I unprofitable." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between just ask you whether you had heard it.' is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door this truth that in these little records of our cases which you side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Yes, only one." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "The Cedars?" "Not in the least." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "No." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked with some details as to your case." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "About a month then." Edgeware Road. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?"