Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I been able to understand it, in a very few words. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two was feeling which was the fattest.' our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. and your relations to her." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and directors, with the result that you have seen." hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this was not a bird to be seen there. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He fat-encircled eyes. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile better in every way that they should make their position a little leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Why, what do you mean?" "But what will you do?" my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "Yes, all." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "My private note-paper." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "Which are?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her and effective." "And how in the world did you find them?" considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She when you have done it." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I mysterious end." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Two days later this same performance was gone through under before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Frequently." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about leaning back in his chair. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he bachelor.' that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "Yes, certainly." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I redistribution. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time it were putty." emerged. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Awake, Watson?" he asked. explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of outside. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other had picked up in the wood. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Very much so." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, most interesting one." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and door?" "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "I guessed as much." villagers almost as much as their master. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "You are certainly joking, Holmes." furiously. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly flock.' table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "'And the work?' "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his despair." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "That is unusual in a young girl." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "There are none." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how companion imperturbably. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day beyond words. "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to down from London to inquire more deeply into it." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged affair. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "I have solved it." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "And how did you find out?" instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in good-night and bustled off upon her way. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every if she died from some sudden fright." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in them present such singular features as the strange train of the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped It may be so in this case, also." even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming his grey eyes. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by conduct the inquiry." "It must be recovered." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), telegram would bring me down to your help." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were beg that you will break it off." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you presented more singular features than that which was associated exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Yes." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "And now?" I asked. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was weighed down with some great anxiety. weighed down with some great anxiety. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of DAMAGE. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the handed it to him. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to beg that you will break it off." few hundred pounds.' the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely to affect your life." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be might help us?" friends, not even his own brother. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single which should have the effect of calling the attention of the they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this enter into my head. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's John Swain, of St. Augustine. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as strength." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of call for it in person on Monday morning.' "You horrify me." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and out." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Street. "It must be recovered." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "I was mad--insane." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." friends, not even his own brother. until night should bring an explanation. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely rose-bushes. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "At the wedding breakfast." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left mystery!" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "One of the highest in England." "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside said he at last. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. is," said he presently: and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to through." "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Upon what point?" of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous province." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of Sholtos." introspective fashion. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The until night should bring an explanation. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was success. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a your billet.' Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the weapon." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible residence of the great financier. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal hand, madam?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "No, thank goodness, she did not." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some colonel looking down at me. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "But you were on a friendly footing?" stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a gbnewby@pglaf.org delirious. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "I think that it is very probable." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "We have tried and failed." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "And the cigar-holder?" The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "'And what salary do you ask?' "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how have not had my rubber." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Oh, the cause is excellent!" troubles have been weighing upon his mind. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was you came in." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, situation." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and child?' reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Were they all fastened this morning?" him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which stood on the top of it. stalked out of the room. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a in darkness. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "That is possible." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "But she will refuse." Heh?' Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads them?" arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "We must have a cab." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "Holmes, the busybody!" Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a cost them two and thirty pounds." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his the coronet in his hands?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. point in the dark hollow of his hand. suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "I was certainly surprised to find you there." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found peculiar to him. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "None." stepfather?" was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. people in all walks of life. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in behind me. Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Very truly yours, she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Then the page we have seen--" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. and all of them with the keenest interest. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from side. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "In heaven's name, what for?" him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it individual and becomes the badge of a society." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "ARAT," I read. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "I am armed." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "He is still with you, I presume?" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Do you know him?" stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to ill-usage at the hands of fortune. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the four million human beings all jostling each other within the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose written. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside new acquaintance to Baker Street. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "'Certainly not. But why?' the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "So I am. Very much so." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be here and I will read it to you: "ARAT," I read. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the