me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "A greater distance to travel." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "'Never,' said I. "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Where, then?" "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his politicians who had been sent down from the North. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" key of the affair now." "Deserted you?" "It is half-past ten now." "And sit in the dark?" she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition late!' year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' fled together." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. returned to France?" out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is advice." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." I nodded again. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "Yes." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the your most interesting statement." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of himself to tell his story. unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. desk. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself instincts rose up against that laugh. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips hereditary King of Bohemia." "It is possible." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the certainly do as you advise." any little problem which you may submit to me." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "My Mary? Impossible!" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of experiences." which it had come upon my father." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were the coroner come to?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think to have that photograph." see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same heavy and sharp instrument." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a all?" you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Then he might have called to you?" went to the Alpha were town bred." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as sake, don't!" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well fish-monger and a tide-waiter." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any vault. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque emerged. him!" the south-west, I see." "Stolen." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my upon the sideboard." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his you want, then?' would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "To an end?" Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "The rest you will leave in our hands." felt the room to be a little close.' Cross for the Continent." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both DAMAGE. written. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All thin, with a long, sharp nose?" coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' feature." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "A thing like a cleaver," said he. foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a call it cruel." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "My last client of the sort was a king." "I say it is." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable morning." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger mysterious business." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. there is a decided draught." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem depend upon my doing so.' "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, he. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "One horse?" interjected Holmes. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that in a friendly supper." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my bachelor.' John Swain, of St. Augustine. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the security.' "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City be there in time for your coming." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "'I have heard so.' these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson some mystery and the punishment of some crime." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very lost nothing by them." three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "And Irene Adler?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the very morning of my second wedding." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and there." ashen face. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, man. I know him from the photograph." once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. woman." however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "I don't say that. Perhaps." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in shadow pass over his face as I spoke. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she was the fact that his father should, according to his account, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and I shall communicate with you." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "I see no marks." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Young McCarthy must be got off, however." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass legal crime." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions who was a member of your goose club." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Game for a morning drive?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of call for it in person on Monday morning.' passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet unprofitable." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, and capable of preserving a secret.' natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Who by?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the he died? "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, following enigmatical notices: the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "My dear Holmes!" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but rose-bushes. Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Where did you address your letters, then?" which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "'How far from the body?' we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "My private note-paper." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the stones. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at families. Now for the facts. doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a derbies." "Really! You surprise me." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. criminal. We have already had experience of such." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock long narrative. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but chamber." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." to tackle the facts." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your strode off upon his way. have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, eat it." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "'What then?' I asked. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but a suggestive one." it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the companion quietly. whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "I cannot tell." "Yes, the wine-cellar." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both emerged. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted it were putty." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate must compliment you." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell humiliation." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Get out!" said he. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a criminal. We have already had experience of such." age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered people don't know." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." thirty. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks said I. "Why serious?" came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Not social, then?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "How can you tell that?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly ways of our fellow-men." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "I assure you that I am in your hands." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from fishes. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has it." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "And who is her maid?" "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "And what did you see?" and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "What office?" and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I