"Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. correct than the official force." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "But his left-handedness." Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of What do you deduce from it?" dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "But how?" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the official police." across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? cheerful." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his an introduction to him?" ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "You have it, sir, just as it happened." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, held up the lantern and gazed about him. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." from the brougham. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "Did you become engaged then?" understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Was the window open?" of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back have had none more fantastic than this." sake, don't!" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had Mary, has deserted me." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing threw himself down with his face to the pillow. whatever might befall. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." Holmes." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Pray do so." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the must compliment you." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. and laid it on the table. It may be so in this case, also." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an joking. companion imperturbably. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the was it brought him the coronet? younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to Countess of Morcar's?" "Where did you address your letters, then?" Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way call it cruel." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with you." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room whole matter to your consideration." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders becomes even more simple." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "'I am sure if I had known--' was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day have been better. It is all right." heavy and sharp instrument." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "But how did you gain them?" We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone whole matter to your consideration." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "I am to be neutral?" Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double there." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" taking in every detail of the apartment. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a would then never go into court at all." "It is very clear." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that will take you up to see the machine.' my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "And help." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "No." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, never will be, entirely cleared up. Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my have had none more fantastic than this." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "It was a confession," I ejaculated. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He orange pips. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Sutherland?" branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, of his shoulders. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had wall." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is been with you?" "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the think, you have already met." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a distance from the station, and there we found the young lady made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love putting in the horse. of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business jewels which you have stolen?' was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is made his money." hand, madam?" gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have have I gained?" acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain one which it was hard to resist. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several humiliation." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "That is possible." then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly is," said he presently: to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." your sleep?' He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when "Not him." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "He might." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "'What then?' I asked. call the police, let the police find what they can.' "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle shadow pass over his face as I spoke. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. exactly what you advise." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready could not have written that. It is the German who is so came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "'I am sure that I do not know.' are, and they are waiting for us." a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Was your sister dressed?" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." some terrible trap for her." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you stood on the top of it. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that for and were ordered to this address. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "ARAT," I read. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the Stoke Moran." What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could you do it in twenty minutes!' them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "I saw her in conversation with her maid." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out awaited us upon the table. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What definite end. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Nothing." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "But I have heard all that you have heard." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "Of what day?" "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Who was the criminal, then?" has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "Quite so. She has her freedom." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "I cannot say that I have." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Get out!" said he. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered habit of advancing money.' "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be the devil!" 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: questioning and rather startled gaze. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years written, and locked the door of the office after me. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "So it appears." "And now?" I asked. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It me." morning." figure." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of not fit the lock." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the to his chemical studies. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred washing it down with a long draught of water. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "Entirely." there is a decided draught." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as ceremony." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, I shall continue with my miserable story. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Lee, in the county of Kent." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set ways of our fellow-men." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "You forget that I know nothing about it." always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "I do." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this it." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I delirious. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. strength in the others." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "And leave your case unfinished?" prepare for the new role I have to play." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never felt the room to be a little close.' in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees open." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Nearly eleven." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the think that he is innocent?" "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "I will not look." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'Is purely nominal.' "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for bled considerably." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the