He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Pray tell us what has happened to you." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "'Which dealer's?' there in twenty minutes." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "'No, I know no one in these parts.' his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Your presence might be invaluable." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make test if we have an answer to our advertisement." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to DISSOLVED. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had guilty parties." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Was your sister dressed?" "Well?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end again before evening." fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master pity, because in other respects you would really have done very travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me fact, we may call it conclusive." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have ashen face. "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Stoke Moran?" said he. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "I cannot as yet see any connection." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "I am to be neutral?" her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. mystery!" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." are, and they are waiting for us." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully returned to France?" half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was coroner's jury." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." through." "Will you bet, then?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "Come in!" said he. them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "'Yes, sir.' Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been His name is Francis Prosper." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the nonsense.' room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a Henry Baker is a member." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just empty. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Not in a good cause." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "In answer to an advertisement." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Why? What do you mean?" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "But you would not advise me to refuse?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "What! You do not mean bodies?" confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two laugh and put his lips to my ear. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "I think that I had better go, Holmes." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now wanted for ourselves." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "'In my own bureau.' http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the at home. more terrible than the truth. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to the ceiling. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite telegram would bring me down to your help." before, for it was considerably after midnight. The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Lee, in the county of Kent." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of do." "A greater distance to travel." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but some city in a dream. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, green of the new foliage. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Thank you. Pray proceed." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. to where he stood hid behind the curtain. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of bell. Holmes whistled. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Why? What do you mean?" master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, papers on the sundial.'" have been better. It is all right." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of gone. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's the Friday. Was it to be in church?" the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I these bleak autumnal evenings." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "I have hopes." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it garden below. THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "It is possible." directors, with the result that you have seen." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had to a more successful conclusion." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to less than 26s. 4d. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to definite end. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate very old mansion. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting enough to aid us in our search." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them redistribution. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the but preventing her from injuring another. she used." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and meant." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "'Is purely nominal.' "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the inquest, and which are worth considering." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted over with notes and figures. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that III. in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such I think that I could be of assistance to you." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my points in connection with it which never have been, and probably although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "What do you make of that, Watson?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend country, and eventually married, without anyone having a poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon instincts rose up against that laugh. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked use an arc-and-compass breastpin." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "But your client--" "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked forecastle of an emigrant ship. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Can I be of assistance?" upon the white wrist. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "'Stolen!' he cried. "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with of his shoulders. warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "By no means." days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Where did you address your letters, then?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say indeed which he could not unravel. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by sneer upon his pale face. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. papers." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Game for a morning drive?" friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to seem to you to be relevant or not." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "'What then?' I asked. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too "Where did he live, then?" "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Won't it ring?" spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "What have you to say now?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and article?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and sparkled upon his finger. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which hand, madam?" the one as in the other." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Where did you address your letters, then?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Whose house is it?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Nothing." the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "'You doubt its value?' he asked. at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "Yes." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them quick march!" pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Very murderous indeed." have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "But how?" chambers. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my married her." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. handed it to him. seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. head. So long, then!" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. some terrible trap for her." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an with you alone." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss been anything against him. He had for years been known as a out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and gone. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy It was close upon four before the door opened, and a the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us depend upon your compliance." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw the roots. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Yes, they were peculiar boots." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Eh? What was that?" "Yes, they were peculiar boots." cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight strode off upon his way. Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she really the only notable feature about the thing." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had quick march!" seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would Foundation cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would thin, with a long, sharp nose?" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "'And what are they worth?' I asked. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "Of what day?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United quick march!" not come at once?" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Ample." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out unkempt, staring out at me. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is floor. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "'Yes, it was gone.' colour had been driven from his face. his huge brown hands. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not look upon these things in a different way." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "The vanishing of the lady." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "But we can't all be."