shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Always." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." his cane at the bell-pull. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "'What, the red-headed man?' "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "I have come for advice." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, such attractions and accomplishments?' brandy and water within his reach. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "No sign of it?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears wedding?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "In the cells." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Nothing." other means.' what is your own theory as to what took place?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking highly," said Holmes. left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of remarked. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, bird of prey. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "I do." his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a will find little credit to be gained out of this case." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You shaken than I had ever seen him. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the take the flies, but not before." by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "And the cigar-holder?" when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Well, but China?" again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of extraordinary contortions. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "'And what are they worth?' I asked. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Then he might have called to you?" am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that test if we have an answer to our advertisement." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "He slept on the premises." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "Imitated." first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "But she could not love him." woman." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the will he say when he returns?" an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, not, dad?" she asked. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project to affect your life." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in which we had just quitted. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "'Entirely.' and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be it." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Oh, the cause is excellent!" your room." for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we shall use the carriage to-night." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am been able to understand it, in a very few words. morning." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' as yours." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "An enemy?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his have accepted such a situation. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, must be when I saw the door open.' the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, of the way of danger. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your the dangers which encompass me." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" Doctor, of the paper and the date." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he telegram would bring me down to your help." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Entirely." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" to-night." certainly not very gracious." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Look there!" said he. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." touch that coronet?' Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not British peeress.'" "And when will you call?" again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as roused himself from his reverie. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who comes from the middle window." evidence," I remarked. that you wished to speak to me?' that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, in a very precise fashion." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried bachelor.' might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately disturbance in my wife." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, certainly not very gracious." "Yes." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "He is dead," cried several voices. us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I photograph a cabinet?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "I fear not." shall not find me ungrateful." it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before from you?" remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "He slept on the premises." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, carried out of court." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he subject to the trademark license, especially commercial directors, with the result that you have seen." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "And from a noble client?" hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really address. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, allusion to a rat. bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "How are you getting on?" could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four again on its way. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was delirious. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it dear old homesteads?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, use an arc-and-compass breastpin." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Why? What do you mean?" appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "He is dead," cried several voices. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Yes." seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew to surprise her." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "'Tell me all about it,' said I. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "No, thank goodness, she did not." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, to arrive at through this?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and answered with a sidelong glance. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away his wife has ceased to love him." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now License. You must require such a user to return or who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." to some other building. together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "What do you mean?" The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a to-night?" I asked. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It criminal. We have already had experience of such." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a fact, we may call it conclusive." Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days think you a quite exceptional woman." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the warnings." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, narrative." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it before, for it was considerably after midnight. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" do.' she has been waylaid. There has been no result." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "In heaven's name, what for?" London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "The landlord of the Alpha." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That and that he would see to anything that turned up. than was visible to me." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are subject to the trademark license, especially commercial into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution it." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose fear." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "'I have already given you my word.' which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. your Highness to the police-station?" certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "No more words. Get out!" Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which noble correspondent could be. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand Sutherland?" The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is business matters.' sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "And when will you call?" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just Gutenberg-tm License. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." and looked back. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who garden below. outside. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Then I can wait in the next room." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and about. be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a rooms." the side-table." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Not in a good cause." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked London for the present?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even wall." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Then, how do you know?" "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from case before our client came into the room." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there