furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb if she died from some sudden fright." only touch the interest." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I both be extremely obliged.' "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "'As governess?' "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong bare slabs of marble. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Of Friday, June 19th." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the advice." "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in hopeless attempt at recovering them." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I them?" The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was and that he would see to anything that turned up. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Certainly." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that a few minutes he said that it would be all right. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." so far?" unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "My private note-paper." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Not in the least." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother must compliment you." from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "What I expected to see." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner back into the street. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you voice. them?" clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is will be renamed. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, will not take me long to tell. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. of the vacancies.' some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' one of them." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, might have a private word with us. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I redistribution. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias children over to America with him, so that I found myself without Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of fishes. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the the salesman. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently off." in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without upon the sideboard." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "It surprised me." passage and a tap at the door. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had http://gutenberg.net/license). near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look to tell." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Yes, they were peculiar boots." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only in. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a and your relations to her." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "'In my own bureau.' pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and evidence," I remarked. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "It is true that I have been generally successful." baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' so far?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of fait accompli?" you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Did you observe the colour?" "And you thought he was pulled back?" however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his indeed which he could not unravel. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to to you." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Well, it is a possible supposition." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be flock.' his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" make me his representative both with the servants and with the "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "You have the photograph?" "My dear Holmes!" common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "No." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood people don't know." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a returned to France?" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "May I see it?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between beyond words. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet and have this put in the evening papers." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows "Well, some hundreds of times." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with astonishment. http://www.gutenberg.net and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "Come in!" said Holmes. them?" "On your arm?" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. your equipment. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge power." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a writing, and yet I know it well." "'Stolen!' he cried. and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand him!" down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Your presence might be invaluable." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the tapping his fingers upon the table. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, The police have openly confessed that they can at present make His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "My opinion is in no way altered." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my round and wave him away like that.' Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have what do you think they found in the pockets?" every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it affection." absorbing." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of problems help me to do so." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the rooms." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under behind me. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "It goes to the housekeeper's room." business at Coburg Square is serious." works. murdered man." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "My photograph." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal colonel looking down at me. not within a twentieth part of the market price." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to woman." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." business came to an end." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what any little problem which you may submit to me." "I think it very unlikely." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "I have come for advice." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "You think so, too?" the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty from the brougham. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My lips." "Why, it's a dummy," said he. asked. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Dr. Gregory B. Newby had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always very morning of my second wedding." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door the bottom.' in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable dates and names. The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed been." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, some city in a dream. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I residence of the great financier. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "Do you go out much in society?" adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they outbreak?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Street. desk. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied nights." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from directly by questioning you." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily in my life." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no disturbance in my wife." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "At the wedding breakfast." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned telegram would bring me down to your help." cigar and let me expound." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but companion imperturbably. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' six. Come in!" vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what you in yours." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this me what he had done with the three missing stones. prisoner's face. erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "'Why that?' I asks. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part humiliation." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "And I to find an enemy." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been whereabouts. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the up this clue while it is still hot." "The doctor?" it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" front of the hall door has given its name to the place. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, read it out to me." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "'Most admirably.' against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Precisely." so far?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, not as remarkable as your advertisement." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more business?" "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some means taking possession of that which another person has a prior quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Countess of Morcar's?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "It must be recovered." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "In heaven's name, what for?" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay straightened it out again. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr.