the matter." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son sooner or later she must fall a victim. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "At the wedding breakfast." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" you." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of standing smiling on the door-step. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it and that he would see to anything that turned up. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he vanished into the darkness. a very grave face. writing, and yet I know it well." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" nights." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the following enigmatical notices: about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Does that suggest anything?" at a side door. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this entirely lost his self-respect." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take was a perfect sample of the class. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. them?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "It is to him that this trophy belongs." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "How on earth--" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "On the contrary, this is the right side." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the dangers which encompass me." me where it went to?" "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to and the church but not where the lady lived." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl fear." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the important." all-comprehensive glances. fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, your only hope of safety." "Yes." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "But how could you guess what the motive was?" roused himself from his reverie. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let absorbing." to have that photograph." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all has little to do with my story." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do written. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He already referred to. sufficient punishment." might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he geese which you supplied to the Alpha." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "I will try. What is it?" again before evening." of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "How often?" disturbance in my wife." point in the dark hollow of his hand. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, served to weaken the effect. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of and your relations to her." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Look there!" said he. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on digesting their breakfasts at home." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, national property. I was determined that the law should have its I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter frequently gained my first real insight into the character of with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather that the gas is not laid on in his house?" knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of I am not easy in my mind about them." tension within him. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "You are hungry," I remarked. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "To the police?" of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot get her out of the way." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an to a light-house. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "I have a cab outside." habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had was it brought him the coronet? Countess of Morcar's?" bell. Holmes whistled. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done whether it answered to the description of any of their there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become You can understand that this register and diary may implicate are, I think, all that we need." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at the general public were present, then?" I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I enter Dr. Roylott's room." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it the one as in the other." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use upon the shelf for the interim." and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "I was afraid that you were engaged." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." purpose of examination. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort some city in a dream. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a where she found matters as described by the last witness. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one 11:15.' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off eat it." that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall and your relations to her." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small my friend's incisive reasoning. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Nothing." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Why, what do you mean?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Pray tell us what has happened to you." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "Did you become engaged then?" what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I forecastle of an emigrant ship. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Pray let us have it, for all that." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "That is easily got." "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he you?' Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the his face. congenial hunt. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, suggested at once that there must be a communication between the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was indiscretion." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Was the window open?" was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while and all of them with the keenest interest. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "It's nothing of the kind." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon there has been an enclosure here!" To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "I see many objections to any such theory." third from London." bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "But he might be a bachelor." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "And your mother is alive?" visitors." before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" important." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "You did not overhear what they said?" obstinate." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to way in everything. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Holmes, the busybody!" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "At what time?" actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make telegram would bring me down to your help." "Will you go?" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "'Oh, no.' copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." fasten all the windows?" Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those security.' of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on night.' said he. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the redistribution. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an possible that we could bring him back to her? "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Here?" matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "No?" dates and names. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are directly by questioning you." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. ordinary clothes on?" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "It missed him, then?" was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "I was mad--insane." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." joking. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "This photograph!" About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Entirely." digesting their breakfasts at home." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. is," said he presently: was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "I have come for advice." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a should be taken.' business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they the south-west, I see." to-night's adventure." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new chemical work which was so dear to him. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "Holmes, the busybody!" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Frequently." "You forget that I know nothing about it." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have past. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that DISSOLVED. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "'Yes, I promise.' along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, ways including including checks, online payments and credit card She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you fire. You quite follow me?" terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or which our visitor detailed to us. clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Not I." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs was not a bird to be seen there. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "Oh, fresh and glossy." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "I have my revolver," said I. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should with some details as to your case." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it is now desirous of getting those letters back." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "It is a murder, then?" appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should own family. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We ways of our fellow-men." 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used on re-entering her father's house?" you?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that ago." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no