"If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another bonnet, and went out." the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, events than those which have happened in my own family." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, unprecedented a position." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the just ask you whether you had heard it.' Holmes. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a The summons was a brief and urgent one. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, Holmes' face clouded over. all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains hour?' "In what way?" asked Holmes. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for people in all walks of life. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my characteristics, but those are the more obvious." States. gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "It is no ordinary one." was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Pope's Court. whether it answered to the description of any of their a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend leave you to your papers for a little." "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in gives a meaning to it." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." that you can jump it.' one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time salesman. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Do you know him?" "Then I can wait in the next room." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you mysterious end." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a that he has suffered." business." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "How did you trace it, then?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed held up the lantern and gazed about him. I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who status with the IRS. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair redistribution. "What then?" is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "No, I am descending." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs lectures into a series of tales." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly highly," said Holmes. "From his hat?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of locked. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which 1.E.9. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should long narrative. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "'Certainly,' I answered. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we copied or distributed: he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to I nodded again. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." best detective that ever lived. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I will, Miss Turner." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous extraordinary contortions. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "But how?" house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen despair." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some closely." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came frequently gained my first real insight into the character of the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "I do." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "'I shall certainly be there.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "'Certainly not. But why?' and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "Yes." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this legal crime." young Openshaw's." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who galvanised. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you new acquaintance to Baker Street. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "None." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a to me. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "I am about to be married." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an been with you?" the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a Have you good authority for what you say?" connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden will be renamed. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not strength of mind to control. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. conduct the inquiry." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "What then?" test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "It is his hat." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "That is it on the dressing-table." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, tear off another piece?' Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "It is solved." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to the armchair which I pushed forward for him. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some outside. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "'Certainly,' I answered. all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his said Mr. Holder. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "'Yes, it was gone.' to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Breckinridge is his name." "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Not I." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled at my remark. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his detective. companion. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "And you can do nothing until then?" reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "You horrify me." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when he. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "To an English lawyer named Norton." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "It is half-past ten now." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked that you wished to speak to me?' "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" as noiselessly as she had come. "I have hopes." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his until night should bring an explanation. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather prison!" been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet John Swain, of St. Augustine. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We married her." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "I have hopes." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my the inquest, and which are worth considering." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried felt?" "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true your bag." not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "Well." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he chamber." "Yes, but only for you and me." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "An accident, I presume?" more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "And your father? Did you tell him?" than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "It's nothing of the kind." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they tightly behind him. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "I will get her to show me." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers legal crime." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out asked. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, must compliment you." "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "And it is--" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "I never have." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "'I shall certainly be there.' the date of his supposed suicide." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It said he. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, was it brought him the coronet? crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he annoyance, but no jest. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Not yet." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I became a certainty. He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, tassel actually lying upon the pillow. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Quite so." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him at home. "I cannot tell." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "'Certainly,' I answered. that he has suffered." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "No." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Yes." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a