weigh very heavily upon my conscience." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Come in!" said he. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and prove to be little relation between the different incidents of Holmes. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was chambers. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "Stoke Moran?" said he. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "Look there!" said he. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At became a certainty. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It ashen face. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' could go. "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some outbreak?" "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the During two years I have had three consultations and one small "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the Sutherland?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the to a light-house. "No good news?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "Yes." good-night and bustled off upon her way. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that hurried away. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening views." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated second window is the one that I jumped from." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Where does the thing come from?' when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "About a month then." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which you in yours." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Dirty?" the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "I was mad--insane." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or certainly do as you advise." trying to your nerves." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "What can it mean?" I gasped. "What! Had he lost his wife?" he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "His face fell immediately. stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the trying to your nerves." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "And who is her maid?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of guilty one." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by that he will be back before evening." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great What do you deduce from it?" and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in when your master had gone out." "And the cigar-holder?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Why, what do you mean?" posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Bought." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "No." certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other and inquire as to the address." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." DISSOLVED. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "'I shall certainly be there.' know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life promised to bring home. When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "I am armed." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was III. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself formed some opinion?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of the running down." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was that I can to serve you." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "And your father? Did you tell him?" "But what is it you wish?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "And I." long narrative. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be where she found matters as described by the last witness. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and any." indeed happy." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "What steps will you take?" I asked. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back use an arc-and-compass breastpin." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "This photograph!" "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I crowd. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and place, I think that there is good ground to think that the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. 1.F. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it chamber." were wasted." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Ah!" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," really the only notable feature about the thing." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "How did that help you?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment mysterious business." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington always that they were such commands as a lady might with more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "I cannot think." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "Yes." wedding?" shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had John Swain, of St. Augustine. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you might help us?" and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." any little problem which you may submit to me." "Where, indeed?" corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The several quiet little villages up there." "Dr. Becher's." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque a room. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "But she could not love him." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired mystery." colonel looking down at me. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "How can you tell that?" iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so it." "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in money should be paid at once.' stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I discontent upon his features. "I am to be neutral?" He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very a room. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "I should like to see him very much." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary companion imperturbably. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Eh? What was that?" breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "'Then let me do so?' Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Literary Archive Foundation "To an end?" four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." breakfast." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, secret." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the in the hope of finding them." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too telegram would bring me down to your help." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an that there was nothing in it, after all." "And sit in the dark?" slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. morning." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Seven!" I answered. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my was keenly on my guard against him. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, you understand?" "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them words came to my lips. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a nothing of it?" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "Very murderous indeed." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of Foundation as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a shadow pass over his face as I spoke. The summons was a brief and urgent one. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "I think that it is very probable." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "Nearly eleven." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge together. matter." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." fatally injured? "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled because she had spent so short a time in this country that she say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William returning from some small jollification and was making his way Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Precisely." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than entirely lost his self-respect." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal was lame." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. the bottom.' "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "'Where to?' I shall communicate with you." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the she used." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." meanly of me." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." correct than the official force." seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no so.' along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear words came to my lips. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" hurried away. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I I. "And for present expenses?" transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and article?" carried out of court." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to