him nearly every evening." "Why, what do you mean?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "And how did he make his money?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there ways including including checks, online payments and credit card was it brought him the coronet? will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. in the port of London." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly constraint." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "The King of Scandinavia." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the sooner or later she must fall a victim. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual of the one which your family is now devouring." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "It was an hour's good drive." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person people in all walks of life. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a to change my dress. predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is and it need not interfere very much with one's other brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be way in everything. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to and laid it on the table. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that has little to do with my story." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. and that he would see to anything that turned up. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the against a man in the prime of life?" accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears You can understand that this register and diary may implicate chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at observed. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "I have solved it." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the nursery. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to murdered man." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly upon the sideboard." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was with frightened eyes at his accuser. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a his face which made him a very different person to the round, the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Countess of Morcar's?" McCarthy." "Is he quiet?" "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "My stepfather's business papers." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study to where he stood hid behind the curtain. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me matter." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "I am following you closely," I answered. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Holmes' room. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the together. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "In heaven's name, what for?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the obstinate." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. three fields round his house, and there he would take his her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "My own seal." for securing the situation." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his bird of prey. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power upon an income of about 60 pounds." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "My photograph." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Tired-looking or fresh?" His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "'Yes, sir.' quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Did you become engaged then?" than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Frequently." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our time." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he best detective that ever lived. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "How do you know, then?" the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the the one as in the other." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Deserted you?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the affair. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "That is not always so easy." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "'I am sure if I had known--' digesting their breakfasts at home." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked very peculiar words of the dying woman?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "'Where to?' there is a decided draught." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "And why?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' legal crime." Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he strange features which were associated with the two crimes which chance." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head views." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Of what?" To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have the very morning of the wedding." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any fashion which was peculiar to him. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the sofa. This way, please!" "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning to tell." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. Chief Executive and Director to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "No, distinctly professional." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing with some details as to your case." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "It was an hour's good drive." to-morrow." "Here?" card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very waste of energy." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after posted to-day." "My private note-paper." room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I guessed as much." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. cup of tea. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "It is very kind of you." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no and effective." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Not social, then?" "And what did you learn from him?" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. his grey eyes. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. morning." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "'Yes, sir.' compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of your Highness to the police-station?" Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that But Holmes shook his head gravely. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for his fortune, and I went back to pa. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be to-night?' should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must enter Dr. Roylott's room." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, my special province." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH entirely lost his self-respect." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I his forehead." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most flock.' Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Married! When?" "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" go--none." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and have accepted such a situation. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "Nothing?" Holmes' thin, eager face. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and she used." coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of placed his cuttings. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole papers." "I have solved it." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "A client, then?" about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then where she found matters as described by the last witness. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "It was." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up instincts rose up against that laugh. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "'Why that?' I asks. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled wedding?" "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "You horrify me." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, ordinary clothes on?" "Your sister is dead, then?" that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. daring than any effort of the imagination." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "It certainly sounds feasible." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Where to?" a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. tear off another piece?' "And I." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Yes, he did." "And I say east," said my patient. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell populous neighbourhood." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "It's nothing of the kind." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and power." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is time." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. tapping his fingers upon the table. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that several quiet little villages up there." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a shaken than I had ever seen him. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel,