"Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and was lame." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black crime." A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which like that before?" not personally threatened." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "Yes." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Of what?" Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive most interesting one." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "It is to him that this trophy belongs." some terrible trap for her." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address hand, madam?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would from you?" "'Then let me do so?' "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier affection." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "The gentleman I describe." saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. official police." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One in the port of London." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in details should find their way into the papers. Inspector then?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been swore that no one else had been in the front room during the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down when you have done it." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat evidence," I remarked. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "'There is a drive, then?' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." sufficient punishment." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have father's young wife. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I the one as in the other." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some fasten all the windows?" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which of Fenchurch Street." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it anything to do with the matter?" his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "But to whom?" seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite should be taken.' round with crates and massive boxes. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the 1.E.9. directly by questioning you." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "'Quite sure, dad.' "My last client of the sort was a king." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of rose-bushes. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "But she will refuse." "But she will refuse." "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in man. I know him from the photograph." "No, finished." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp possible that we could bring him back to her? Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought chair. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade which it had come upon my father." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he call for protection in the marriage market, for the present assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may to have that photograph." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "One horse?" interjected Holmes. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Certainly, madam." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of the house with me." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for death." "And for present expenses?" believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that stalked out of the room. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our 'I should be able to look after that for you.' his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah the loss of it. danger is over." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man remarked. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "Where did he live, then?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "'As governess?' And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "I know where it is." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have article?" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "But you have hopes?" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "You know me, then?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" to his chemical studies. refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "I think it very unlikely." be there in time for your coming." "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "Where, then?" quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them and wait." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "Perhaps we may make them less so." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who before, for it was considerably after midnight. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to child?' here." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." never to learn it at all." noting anything else of interest. the matter." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an said I. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their to-night's adventure." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "But his lameness?" mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you when your master had gone out." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "That also I could fathom." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "I have come for advice." upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "I guessed as much." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "What, then?" walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly stammered. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair matter." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the roots. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "Then I am your man." "At half-wages, in fact." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the dates and names. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence again before evening." "Thank you. Pray proceed." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the there in twenty minutes." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself might have a private word with us. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Absolutely none." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round long narrative. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "And is that all?" innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It floor. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to his face which made him a very different person to the round, lamp in his hand. manager. really the only notable feature about the thing." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "'In my own bureau.' "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some this remarkable episode. kindly on the shoulder. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you depend upon your compliance." notes," he said. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Lee, in the county of Kent." the inner apartment." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. thin legs towards the fire. Street. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too habit of advancing money.' unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "Was your sister dressed?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this like that before?" permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "No?" discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "And how did you find out?" "Perfectly so." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the to you." key of the affair now." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; thought that she would have been so carried away." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Nor running a chance of arrest?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought over here." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Thank you. And your address?" never to learn it at all." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of married her." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. paper in the air. "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked that you can jump it.' himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from village inn over there?" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of eat it." politicians who had been sent down from the North. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight such attractions and accomplishments?' not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. cigars in the box." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." if only as a check to my own memory." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's you in yours." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond orange pips. "I would give my fortune to have them back." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "'You cannot say what it was?' meant it for the best. there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are death." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? wall." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." upon the white wrist. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to legal crime." like gravel from a pit.' bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied country, and eventually married, without anyone having a at my remark. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and shall use the carriage to-night." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the straightened it out again. will not take me long to tell. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "What!" he roared. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was new duties?' the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, future lives." "It was an hour's good drive." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would spare." morning." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the do.' and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "A confidential servant?" was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an kindly on the shoulder. seem to you to be relevant or not." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Yes, certainly." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "In heaven's name, what for?" half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure