Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's several quiet little villages up there." to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "No legal papers or certificates?" that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Have you good authority for what you say?" Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's breakfast?" had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. towards the blaze. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." what is your own theory as to what took place?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from nothing of it?" the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they never will be, entirely cleared up. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray tension within him. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have experiences." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, of them has the shutters up.' locked." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. matters immensely." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "And you thought he was pulled back?" "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise a little more before I quite committed myself. pressing in one house as in another. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "I will try. What is it?" made him keep the appointment." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His province." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" important." "But you were on a friendly footing?" never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, prisoner's face. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With third from London." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a meant it for the best. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other followed. locked. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "I have seen the police." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "You horrify me!" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." his eyes and forehead. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Nothing?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "Do you go out much in society?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the status with the IRS. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." guilty parties." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a words came to my lips. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Was the window open?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but of receipt of the work. hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a and all of them with the keenest interest. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when there was no need for father to know." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes silent! Oh, he will be silent!' to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "When did it break out?" awkward doing business with an alias." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs orange pips. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. a monotonous occupation." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "To an English lawyer named Norton." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Stolen, then." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "'What do you call purely nominal?' built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over intimate personal affairs in this public manner." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the again, where I was soon asleep. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the of." have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Holmes' thin, eager face. through." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about the coronet at all injured?" "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working said he, "my real name is James Ryder." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists for its centre. "Precisely so. But how--" word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you derbies." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and if only as a check to my own memory." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it away to you." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "Well, some hundreds of times." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign which was all perfectly true. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" I nodded again. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I to Leatherhead. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her husband's writing, madam." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "Dark enough and sinister enough." "I cannot tell." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "How did you trace it, then?" "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it and the church but not where the lady lived." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a seen the man in the road." "Precisely." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he narrative." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "Pray be precise as to details," said he. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his asked. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." too. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Oh, the cause is excellent!" felt the room to be a little close.' For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur than was visible to me." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "It was an hour's good drive." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and and effective." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the retorted upon me, and I on you." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are which I could not give. He asked for Alice. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed meant." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That I nodded to show that I had heard. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the a monotonous occupation." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his will take you up to see the machine.' younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and ourselves in the office." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "But how will you look?" "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with rose-bushes. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and strength of mind to control. was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon detained." "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him individual and becomes the badge of a society." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business stammered. "Well?" lumber-room." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your skylight. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "The landlord of the Alpha." credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, awaited us upon the table. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open Clair, of Lee." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was comes from the middle window." his fortune, and I went back to pa. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Yes." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for not fit the lock." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the crowd. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Ah!" The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "I shall be delighted." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Really! You surprise me." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Nearly eleven." my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my himself to hunt down. the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. I held the little printed slip to the light. Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a right! Sit down and let us talk it over." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Then what has happened to him?" "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Munro.' away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Why did you pick him?" How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "'Oh, no.' "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, undoubtedly my uncle's." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope trifles." "Did you observe the colour?" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would was already answered. earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "I am sure." nice household for a young lady." undoubtedly my uncle's." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." constraint." the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "Not yet." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. I nodded again. "'Certainly not.' I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view I nodded again. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" prisoner's face. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned My friend smiled. at a side door. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "I don't say that. Perhaps." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was next day. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who soul! here is her carriage at the door." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for and files of the old papers, following the future career of every the iron safe, which he closed upon it. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey