coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for woman." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not washing it down with a long draught of water. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very round and wave him away like that.' In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "One?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," strode off upon his way. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the manager. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself The note was undated, and without either signature or address. interested in these little problems, and since you are good not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "I cannot imagine." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "A thing like a cleaver," said he. that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "No, distinctly professional." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up presented which may be striking and bizarre without being man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Was there a secret marriage?" I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, morning." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third man. I know him from the photograph." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Certainly." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. coat-tails." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Literary Archive Foundation "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the appeared upon the scene." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "The best possible." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a recall any case within my experience which looked at the first and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their against a man in the prime of life?" which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could instituted." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought maiden herself was most instructive." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a whereabouts. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "Certainly." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "And that is--" "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project o'clock is it?" "I cannot think." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of was a lad." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Pray do so." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my this truth that in these little records of our cases which you set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are appeared upon the scene." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third undoubtedly my uncle's." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this fat-encircled eyes. "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy threw himself down with his face to the pillow. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so pierced for earrings?" you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he hereditary King of Bohemia." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence tension within him. this Miss Turner." he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Then you may be so with me." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Then he might have called to you?" "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, woman." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "In heaven's name, what for?" lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Pray do so." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel my room." him and tried to hold him back. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "You will not go there first?" "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a started for the Temple to see my husband. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but you in your example." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of washing it down with a long draught of water. desk. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "But how could you guess what the motive was?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He good for you to do.' will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "And when will you call?" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this she to prove their authenticity?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. were wasted." him to be an active member of the medical profession." where she found matters as described by the last witness. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "And how did he make his money?" would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "No." room?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been there is a decided draught." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, to-morrow." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his where she found matters as described by the last witness. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a British peeress.'" grasp, he hurried from the room. professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the which we had just quitted. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly three fields round his house, and there he would take his there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. upon the sideboard." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "One of the highest in England." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, case-book, which he consulted. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a that?' of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been said he, "my real name is James Ryder." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your be.' but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the dangers which encompass me." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed astonishment. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions on re-entering her father's house?" the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man foresight and the moral retrogression?" "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "'Certainly,' I answered. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in views." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "'No, I know no one in these parts.' case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "'I am sure that I do not know.' "What is it?" front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to upon the shelf for the interim." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with good for you to do.' heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get to affect your life." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Look there!" said he. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. thirty. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; be.' "He is dead," cried several voices. call you and give you the chance." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "And why?" passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else have established a very serious case against the son of the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At this remarkable episode. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. and put his glass in his pocket. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." stammered. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There woven round him. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church himself in a perplexing position. hereditary King of Bohemia." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a that you wished to speak to me?' round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "And how?" trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel when your master had gone out." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. to arrive at through this?" that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge asked with his eyes open. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." place no limit on the sum I may draw." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. in a friendly supper." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "In heaven's name, what for?" the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe who was a member of your goose club." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that 11:15.' for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be second window is the one that I jumped from." Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to the inquest, and which are worth considering." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Then I do not see the point." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Just look it up, then." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment lamp. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned that?' inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came voice, changing her seat as requested. confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I vanished into the darkness. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing that the gas is not laid on in his house?" silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "But how?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, astonishment. "ARAT," I read. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the intimate personal affairs in this public manner." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' You can understand that this register and diary may implicate merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon taking in every detail of the apartment. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "I have seen the police." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Of what day?" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I this poor creature." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Texas, I think." "I say that I have solved it." "'In my own bureau.' distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "And your mother is alive?" because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from formed some opinion?" sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could there were so many in the whole country as were brought together examine." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "Nothing." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "I promise," said Holmes. fire. You quite follow me?" infinite languor in his face. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "BALLARAT." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled back into the street. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a at a side door. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "But you have hopes?" "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "But your client--" the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, flock.' pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in