"I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." she to prove their authenticity?" "None." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the and laid it on the table. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as away into the river." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock him, that man would not have given me such complete information merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "You horrify me!" the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think at home. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "Ten will be early enough." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Yes, I have one waiting." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in vague figure huddled up in the darkness. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the to miss it." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Yes." Does that suggest anything?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his once more for Briony Lodge. "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, before, for it was considerably after midnight. get the tickets." upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek The summons was a brief and urgent one. postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Dirty?" lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and both be extremely obliged.' them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we how narrow had been my escape. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco opened the door, and slipped through. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the morning." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his have not had my rubber." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Not in a good cause." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Yes, the wine-cellar." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Yes." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the know that the truth is known." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." danger is over." "I should wish to." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole that, and I came down." Holmes." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were interest. They are important, you understand, without being "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Yes?" round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Holmes." she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "I cannot imagine." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "I shall be delighted." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Holmes rather sternly. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of washing it down with a long draught of water. there." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan have had none more fantastic than this." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered miles off. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Certainly." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "'Then let me do so?' "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always depend upon your compliance." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco the house with me." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "I should be immensely obliged to you." "BALLARAT." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had excitement. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "No." entirely devoid of interest." concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "But who is he?" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Yes. He waved his hands." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a point our research must commence, and we will begin it by it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "I will try. What is it?" near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble closing the door. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just business?" "It came here." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense his wife has ceased to love him." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just character. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "And now?" He raised his hand. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. papers on the sundial.'" about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. chance at all." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "There is the writing." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, newspaper selections." woman." questionable one." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your bird I ate is country bred." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited walking." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do them present such singular features as the strange train of and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled Leadenhall Street--and--" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party instituted." second window is the one that I jumped from." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, that you wished to speak to me?' nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast neither fascinating nor artistic." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her forebodings. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Oh, yes, easily." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the galvanised. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Where, indeed?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To done what I asked you, Jones?" "'Never.' snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Yes." Holmes' room. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine her also." "Very much so." "And I to find an enemy." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the woven round him. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love indeed which he could not unravel. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some speckled band?" "But his lameness?" "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point do.' "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit was a perfect sample of the class. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "And you don't know his address?" so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "But you can know nothing of this?" about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in already referred to. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the was a lad." crime." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Of what?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "Always." retorted upon me, and I on you." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, could go. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "Yes?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, of a light. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Where to?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Absolutely?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "A thing like a cleaver," said he. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature and your relations to her." considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "And the cigar-holder?" clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left maid will bring up your coffee." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I time." "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of to-night?" I asked. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "Your sister is dead, then?" nonsense.' nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "None." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you not interfere, come what may. You understand?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which father's place of business?" then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your least a fellow-countryman. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "'I shall certainly be there.' house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see pound a week." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have I nodded to show that I had heard. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since vague figure huddled up in the darkness. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I pound a week." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Well." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for there was no need for father to know." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "And what did you see?" "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must From what you have told me I think that it is possible that are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend tied." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather not interfere, come what may. You understand?" know what is wrong with it.' "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could conceal it?" presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "'In my own bureau.' France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the conversation I have gathered that they have been married about would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "It is very clear." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. trifles." "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie sofa. This way, please!" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "That is easily got." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "The landlord of the Alpha." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a