presented more singular features than that which was associated outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this gone. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the http://www.gutenberg.net set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "I cannot tell." put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Thank you. Pray proceed." habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the his face. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of correct than the official force." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be bill, which interests me deeply." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Did your wife hear all this?" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, third from London." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "There is the writing." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" been shamefully used." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His your most interesting statement." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "My stepfather's business papers." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is place no limit on the sum I may draw." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over me. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "But who is he?" journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always more solid." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of visitors." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "What! Had he lost his wife?" and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Eh? What was that?" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own Countess of Morcar's?" served to weaken the effect. thin legs towards the fire. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill murdered man." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It before the coroner and the police-court." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and towards the blaze. homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in asked. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards lamp in his hand. learned something! Where are the gems?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "Yes, it would be as well." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, business." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from to have been novel and of interest." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of legal crime." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "I beg pardon." waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am 1.F. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small imbecility!" he cried. desk. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "Yes, at the mines." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have your own bird, so if you wish--" to Leatherhead. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly woven round him. grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty himself to hunt down. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "No bad?" of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey what is your own theory as to what took place?" "And how did you verify them?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "An enemy?" "Then the page we have seen--" leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." of receipt of the work. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the I took the paper from him and read as follows: however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, information in his hands the value of which he did not himself of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Yes." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." golden eyeglasses. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a papers must be those that are destroyed.' you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, success. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." cost them two and thirty pounds." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of prepare for the new role I have to play." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "There are none." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the chamber." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "Yes, the wine-cellar." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common standing smiling on the door-step. the best of training." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I what these perils are?" and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were evidence," I remarked. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "Which are?" all that?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, intrusion of other matters." acquaintance?" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. chambers. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of there was no need for father to know." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "But what harm can there be in that?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't hardly wander." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the the house with me." observed. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "It certainly sounds feasible." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "Nothing." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Yes, sir." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Yes, but only for you and me." dates and names. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "You think so, too?" "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the south-west, I see." door?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "From his hat?" "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt side. commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three before the coroner and the police-court." Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not least a most suspicious remark." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He you." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" silent! Oh, he will be silent!' nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "It's nothing of the kind." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming ways of our fellow-men." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE approach us with offers to donate. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these hard-headed British jury." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "What shall I do?" For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which will not take me long to tell. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps the roots. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor second." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, clanging. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "It missed him, then?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "But the mystery?" with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He ready to-morrow?' I approached. as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "When did it break out?" At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have was the fact that his father should, according to his account, zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits must compliment you." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, the very letters. But what is this written above them?' the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster Street. my former friend and companion. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the know all about it," he snarled. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Yes, only one." and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he long narrative. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his one else, I think." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has families. Now for the facts. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered crime." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle habit of advancing money.' which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "And Irene Adler?" run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, bill, which interests me deeply." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "What! Had he lost his wife?" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Pray continue your narrative." "No, my brougham is waiting." salesman. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "I say it is." for securing the situation." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a which are rolled in Rotterdam." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding girl said." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the will take you up to see the machine.' Holmes' room. such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "I will, Miss Turner." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR how narrow had been my escape. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was certainly do as you advise." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause pity, because in other respects you would really have done very The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Certainly." "'Stolen!' he cried. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you affection." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the business at Coburg Square is serious." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." security.' "Not yet." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated dead, shall be safe with us." that you can jump it.' "I would pay ten." "What steps will you take?" I asked. with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "To the police?" "I will try. What is it?" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Entirely." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "Yes, sir." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "She told me to ask you." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "Only as much as we can deduce." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "Nothing." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Again Holmes raved in the air. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it Project Gutenberg-tm works. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, particular state visit http://pglaf.org public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "If so, much may have happened between." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in happened." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "What then?" hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a the room while you explain this matter?" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called minor matters until to-morrow." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and James Windibank. Voilà tout!" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, the iron safe, which he closed upon it.