"You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. awkward doing business with an alias." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two the ceiling. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could walking." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I is a common subject for conversation. "It is his hat." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small thirty. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Whose house is it?" Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is that the gas is not laid on in his house?" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "But you were on a friendly footing?" police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are hair?' you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "My private note-paper." "He might." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder as noiselessly as she had come. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it man. I know him from the photograph." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "And how?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." do.' "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "What can you not understand?" 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." entirely lost his self-respect." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "A greater distance to travel." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" suspect him." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "9th. McCauley cleared. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the as noiselessly as she had come. III. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we allusion to a rat. purpose of examination. "'Ample.' doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "I will not look." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "At the wedding breakfast." me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my in this note: the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "What can it mean?" I gasped. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my meant it for the best. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the know that the truth is known." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." arrangements." "You will not go there first?" said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he photograph?" bird of prey. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which dear old homesteads?" "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Yes, from Horsham." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. strength." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or question. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. hurried by. remarked. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home security.' bed dies. Does not that strike you?" one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "Where to?" The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. in. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check lamp. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were figure." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional chamber." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go "Not particularly." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not unkempt, staring out at me. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I do." not within a twentieth part of the market price." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "What is it, then--a fire?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and she might be summoned. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg again on its way. "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" the iron safe, which he closed upon it. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to on in his house." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. individual and becomes the badge of a society." me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a within hail.' may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "Yes, all." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I envelope. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, chambers. what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the be best to do. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, new duties?' old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Where, then, is my wife?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich affection." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but his cane at the bell-pull. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions Countess of Morcar's?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his and shall probably return to London by the evening train." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Yes, it was twisted." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim breakfast." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in affair. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of furiously. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to prepare for the new role I have to play." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "What are they?" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. eat it." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "But of what society?" "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "I have seen the police." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste instincts rose up against that laugh. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Precisely so. But how--" defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can the stones. to me. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "I shall be delighted." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the in his power. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "No, my brougham is waiting." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "'Where could I find him?' "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker fat-encircled eyes. had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't people in all walks of life. security.' moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me ways of our fellow-men." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "But the mystery?" "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may voice. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "'Very good.' black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. neither fascinating nor artistic." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival the little opening for the ventilator is." seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and carpenter." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn I shall continue with my miserable story. "What will you do, then?" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry should be taken.' "Always." know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "In what way?" asked Holmes. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. him!" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "I answered that I had not. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "It is possible." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a will he say when he returns?" bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on geese which you supplied to the Alpha." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little already referred to. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as place, I think that there is good ground to think that the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to to tell." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads about. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is papers on the sundial.'" strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied Holmes' face clouded over. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in heavily into it. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Yes, the wine-cellar." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you himself to hunt down. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his face and glided from the room. weighed down with some great anxiety. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. said he at last. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. we went to search for him, face downward in a little house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, this remarkable episode. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "And your father? Did you tell him?" "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a had a long day." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Game for a morning drive?" Surrey." together. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the Again Holmes raved in the air. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell should be taken.' Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man had died away into the silence from which it rose. brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little fire. You quite follow me?" and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" was lame." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use interested in these little problems, and since you are good at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "And the murderer?" "'Certainly,' I answered. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was read it out to me." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "I am all attention, madam." "This concluded the examination of the witness." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, indiscretion." "That is easily got." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "He is dead," cried several voices. Heh?' waste of energy." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "Where did you address your letters, then?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Pray do so." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips heavily into it. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal tell him that I know him to be innocent." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an photograph?" any little problem which you may submit to me." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Then he might have called to you?" overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the Surrey."