goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "I warn you that they are very incomplete." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "That was it, sir." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson writing, and yet I know it well." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "How can you tell that?" have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the recall any case within my experience which looked at the first shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. said he. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it shadow pass over his face as I spoke. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "'Ten to two.' property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up point our research must commence, and we will begin it by deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "I am sure." little adventures." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered Edgeware Road. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted one which it was hard to resist. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and words came to my lips. a very grave face. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "But what is it you wish?" at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, and files of the old papers, following the future career of every name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Precisely so. But how--" of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "No, finished." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his character. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But more solid." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Yes." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "You are all wrong." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us detained." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn your bag." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "I have come for advice." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "When did it break out?" a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence it right.' the armchair which I pushed forward for him. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Look there!" said he. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return hands. examine." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a what do you think they found in the pockets?" husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he it right.' status with the IRS. permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the occupations.' freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small and laid it on the table. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did case before our client came into the room." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "BALLARAT." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may stepfather?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "But we can't all be." "Yes." voice. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Seven!" I answered. security.' go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. went to the Alpha were town bred." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. disappearance of these gems?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point like that before?" where we are going." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but started for the Temple to see my husband. ordinary clothes on?" counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & weighed down with some great anxiety. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Yes, he did." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who chair. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door ready to-morrow?' your equipment. "And I." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be me. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "I shall be delighted." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and article?" headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I room had already been engaged for us. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at to you." over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, forebodings. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another been deceived." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more relief. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "What then?" already referred to. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing guilty parties." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" strong and stiff." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew seem to you to be relevant or not." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. had formerly been in part my own. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. You want to know what became of those geese?" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "And leave your case unfinished?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which already referred to. tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his Lee, in the county of Kent." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If may never be exposed to such a temptation." to me. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "I am armed." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with clanging. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' was not a bird to be seen there. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with call the police, let the police find what they can.' in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward is now desirous of getting those letters back." exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave companion. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the posted to-day." what is your own theory as to what took place?" "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Tired-looking or fresh?" fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Yes." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin humiliation." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man that before taking the final step I should like to submit the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." to you." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "No, distinctly professional." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back where we are going." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "My dear Holmes!" dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." your own bird, so if you wish--" "Will you bet, then?" "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "What are they?" "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee Edgeware Road. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too keep the flames under. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the over here." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "By no means." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly eavesdroppers?' it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of until night should bring an explanation. "Which are?" "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Miss Holder?" over here." "'Ample.' as he folded up the epistle. long narrative. corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "What, then?" serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the opportunities to fix the problem. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after presume?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in been with you?" on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." is worth.' to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, house for five minutes.' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "The King of Scandinavia." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "In San Francisco, a year ago." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which on in his house." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not seen the man in the road." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, hand, madam?" pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "You have but to name it." wanted for ourselves." "On Monday." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "And what did you learn from him?" "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a October 9, 1890. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." the warnings." things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "I will not look." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was kind enough to tell me what I should do." "And why?" like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do *** START: FULL LICENSE *** shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." I shall continue with my miserable story. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the dear old homesteads?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was placed his cuttings.