mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you official police." lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Cross for the Continent." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, friends, not even his own brother. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "No bad?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "And why?" prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "I am all attention, madam." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. begun to whiten, even as mine has." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously My friend smiled. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on your bag." During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself before, for it was considerably after midnight. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in and that he would see to anything that turned up. groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: next day. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was pound a week." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold is four-and-twenty." I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "What, then?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at Street. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the constraint." in one or two places in England?' my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of will take you up to see the machine.' bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "Yes. He waved his hands." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in it." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my I think that I could be of assistance to you." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "What I expected to see." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Not I." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is business in the City. She little knew what. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the Holmes' face clouded over. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "Were they all fastened this morning?" several quiet little villages up there." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he opened the door, and slipped through. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this The note was undated, and without either signature or address. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of exactly what you advise." astonishment. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. himself in a perplexing position. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "The Coroner: What do you mean? "In what way?" asked Holmes. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that for and were ordered to this address. II. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "I should be immensely obliged to you." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "But we can't all be." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold character. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "What do you mean?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" six. Come in!" "Your presence might be invaluable." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Your sister is dead, then?" "I know where it is." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "'I am sure that I do not know.' and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter retorted upon me, and I on you." "But what is it you wish?" admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Never." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. plantation.' states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear yet." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the new acquaintance to Baker Street. village inn over there?" and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor your co-operation." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "She walked into the breakfast-room." "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite mystery may be cleared along those lines." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the views." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a entirely devoid of interest." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "One?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), charge against him will break down." in the dead of the night?' "You have carte blanche." see me here to avoid scandal." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; But Holmes shook his head gravely. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are the room while you explain this matter?" our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "By train from Waterloo." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his the devil!" having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building look dissatisfied." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable allusion to a rat. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "A confidential servant?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "But what harm can there be in that?" way in everything. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Then I am your man." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "I will, Miss Turner." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" bonnet, and went out." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard me. You must get home instantly and act." "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I is so. I know all about McCarthy." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. woman." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to page at http://pglaf.org upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Not social, then?" "I answered that I had not. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in examine." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered correct than the official force." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when tail." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "'Why that?' I asks. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got that threaten you." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, thin legs towards the fire. morning." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well at home. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been highroad, where all traces were lost. "And you can do nothing until then?" fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "But you have hopes?" lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. answer." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us "No." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and think, you have already met." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "I have come for advice." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with sneer upon his pale face. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." business came to an end." power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, noise which awoke you from your sleep?" while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "You have the photograph?" question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was affection." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the goes." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have and looked back. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, fuss that is made over them." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "That's no good." seem to you to be relevant or not." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which better in every way that they should make their position a little "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" other, as fresh and trim as possible. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "I am following you closely," I answered. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." to arrive at through this?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. success. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness meant." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'Certainly not. But why?' time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was carried out of court." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same wall." the devil!" outside. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my empty. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. noble correspondent could be. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' amused." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "If I can be of use." better in every way that they should make their position a little "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "What shall I do?" of Mr. Rucastle's." "I was mad--insane." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try and the colonel ushered me in. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the empty. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "What then?" again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE walking." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. placed his cuttings. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "I guessed as much." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "To the police?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of