"See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out possible that we could bring him back to her? grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "But you have hopes?" "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "I would pay ten." my special province." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty where she found matters as described by the last witness. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "I think that I had better go, Holmes." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which most interesting one." ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Indeed! Whose, then?" words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "I have come for advice." criminal. We have already had experience of such." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "I cannot tell." have I gained?" to affect your life." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "By no means." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him writer." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "And I say east," said my patient. you do it in twenty minutes!' before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend answer." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the said Mr. Holder. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Were they all fastened this morning?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from goes." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to future lives." fasten all the windows?" professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "Who by?" he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "She told me to ask you." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the appointment with me for six o'clock?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in business in the City. She little knew what. "No, I am descending." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which ran thus: "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, and a shock of very red hair. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house have established a very serious case against the son of the above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed Holmes rather sternly. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the shoulder. works. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "We were both in the photograph." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are served to weaken the effect. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence voice. sofa. This way, please!" though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon than was visible to me." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Why, it's a dummy," said he. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. see me here to avoid scandal." These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg into the bag, and made for the door. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." we went to search for him, face downward in a little Farm upon the left." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Yes, at the mines." one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may him to be an active member of the medical profession." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A to go into your room and bar your shutters?" a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "The knees of his trousers." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "But we can't all be." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl there is a decided draught." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. front of me. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones outbreak?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. about. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that the nursery. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A might have a private word with us. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "What then?" "Well?" "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there as yours." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers if I call to-morrow?" Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the have not had my rubber." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the when your master had gone out." people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Awake, Watson?" he asked. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital laugh and put his lips to my ear. the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer some mystery and the punishment of some crime." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," get her out of the way." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with the very letters. But what is this written above them?' and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about sentimental considerations in the background which would induce Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a hand, madam?" meant it for the best. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between http://www.gutenberg.net was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me present." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere followed. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his helping a boy to put up the shutters. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in side. "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better this man was intellectual?" "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head highly," said Holmes. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had this as likely?" spare." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Stolen." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "I should like to see him very much." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the to-night's adventure." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim miles off. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a straightened it out again. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "'Most admirably.' "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two examine." "And the cigar-holder?" I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and quite distinctive." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang his fortune, and I went back to pa. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional weapon." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "You have it, sir, just as it happened." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up business matters.' be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it visitors." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are deduce something from that?" ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So meant it for the best. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a Holmes rather sternly. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' meanly of me." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Yes." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. one of them." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for breakfast and whispered something to her husband. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into with her." common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "Awake, Watson?" he asked. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Breckinridge is his name." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic maid will bring up your coffee." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made of this gang." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "What, then?" insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the I was concerned in it." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, married her." remarked. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. the address that was given us in the advertisement. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the status with the IRS. hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the side-table." received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "There is the writing." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" question," said Holmes, smiling. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until fashion which was peculiar to him. unclasping of his long thin hands. in the hope of finding them." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, 'please.'" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have wall." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "I cannot imagine." Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "But to whom?" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a mysterious business." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be you give your casting vote to?" "It missed him, then?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with on re-entering her father's house?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb to-night?" I asked. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I