carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an whereabouts. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in walking." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." or other trace. But how on earth--" given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no and effective." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were once more. horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "'What, the red-headed man?' "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the is now desirous of getting those letters back." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for entirely lost his self-respect." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love weary and pale-looking. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened there were so many in the whole country as were brought together Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he clang of the bell. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled wedding?" it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his swore that no one else had been in the front room during the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish page at http://pglaf.org the coronet in his hands?" taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "And I to find an enemy." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his must be when I saw the door open.' day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "I will, Miss Turner." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "What! a murderous attack?" a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic go from here to the Strand." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. to-morrow." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the before the coroner and the police-court." "I don't say that. Perhaps." had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent key turn in the lock." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of seen the man in the road." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "I shall be delighted." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "My own seal." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other fire. You quite follow me?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up matters immensely." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "'Oh, no.' Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so it? Did I buy the geese off you?" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." the house with me." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "And did you observe any change in her then?" case-book, which he consulted. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is other means.' nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. a very grave face. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "A client, then?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so God! What an exposure! What can I do?" the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the that I may have something better before very many minutes are to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." bill, which interests me deeply." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he remarked. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. Edgeware Road. and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was and it need not interfere very much with one's other it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "It is very clear." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" call it cruel." "We must have a cab." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "It is possible." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not the Red-headed League." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other not come at once?" Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "What is it, then--a fire?" springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was power." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "It may not come to that," said Holmes. read it out to me." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take outbreak?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief his huge brown hands. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." me. You must get home instantly and act." "Witness: It was. boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of points to suicide?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to come either from the window or the door. My attention was was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "Absolutely?" "Have you it here?" sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and of this gang." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public the inner apartment." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "'I have heard so.' going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. you in your example." "You have carte blanche." implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "'You doubt its value?' he asked. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could colour had been driven from his face. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Come in!" said Holmes. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "I am following you closely," I answered. strode off upon his way. "No?" States. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it followed. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm to tell." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And rat could hardly pass through." protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Is he quiet?" "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do of it with the greatest attention. "He disappeared so suddenly." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Whose house is it?" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in opened the door, and slipped through. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that Serpentine Avenue. felt?" Pope's Court. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Then I shall certainly come." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to hard-headed British jury." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the and have this put in the evening papers." lumber-room." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would get the tickets." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "I have a cab outside." which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as affair. beyond words. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Then the page we have seen--" "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when Project Gutenberg-tm works. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced be best to do. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' do.' as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, way in everything. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it companion imperturbably. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "'I have heard so.' suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "I do." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of assist you in forming an opinion." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather business." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend other lovers by making love himself." thought that she would have been so carried away." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a photograph?" "But she could not love him." she to prove their authenticity?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "'Yes.' possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of room. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." opened the door, and slipped through. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the writing, and yet I know it well." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass these bleak autumnal evenings." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "To ruin me." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and take the flies, but not before." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "What can you not understand?" "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Was the window open?" triumphant cloud from his cigarette. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long I am not easy in my mind about them." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "An enemy?" reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the wedding?" business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "But you were on a friendly footing?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "But who is he?" "Married! When?" eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with I held the little printed slip to the light. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Pray let us have it, for all that." really the only notable feature about the thing." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out and laid it on the table. maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose guilty parties." the inner apartment." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under tied." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "10th. John Swain cleared. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "A confidential servant?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the it. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls gone before you can get him to hospital." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' sneer upon his pale face. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET everything which you would wish to know." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been mystery!" was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." article?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I