has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "None." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present taking in every detail of the apartment. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself before the coroner and the police-court." which our visitor detailed to us. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of this unhappy family?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "But how did you gain them?" "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal residence of the great financier. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the him." "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "That's no good." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "What I expected to see." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "In what way?" asked Holmes. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Deserted you?" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I me. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Not him." "He disappeared so suddenly." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two him to go away.' case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should detained." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already "Entirely." expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was unprecedented a position." footfalls from the street. Again Holmes raved in the air. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which that you saw all that I did." window when the police appeared." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the take the flies, but not before." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has any." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "You have a clue?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and himself in a perplexing position. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would all?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the better in every way that they should make their position a little States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the weary and pale-looking. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with it means?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "Not in a good cause." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit of the one which your family is now devouring." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an thought that she would have been so carried away." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly was used.' table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an the bed, and you in that chair." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "What is it, then--a fire?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall one of them." A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and interests were the same as his." have I gained?" the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in during that time.' discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my into the room. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "No more words. Get out!" understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Heh?' "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "One of the highest in England." of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of For additional contact information: whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, morning." would apply.' "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill Serpentine Avenue. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Bought." it." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "And the murderer?" I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced miles off. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a meant it for the best. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "No, but the enclosure is." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not breakfast and whispered something to her husband. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. may have an influence upon European history." "I say it is." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no outside. events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little side. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the note?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Certainly." bird of prey. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall of fine shops and stately business premises that they really some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She notes," he said. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End you give your casting vote to?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and question. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have colonel looking down at me. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Did your wife hear all this?" and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one him and tried to hold him back. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I residence of the great financier. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got existence." official police." Countess of Morcar's?" "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other that the gas is not laid on in his house?" ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the young Openshaw's." "Not yet." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich companion. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he my room." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "That is not always so easy." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "Where, indeed?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said answered with a sidelong glance. dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for ago." are, I think, all that we need." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up never will be, entirely cleared up. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with miles off. "Yes, it would be as well." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went mysterious business." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "Of what?" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon digesting their breakfasts at home." whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, affair. to-night's adventure." You can understand that this register and diary may implicate backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove in a friendly supper." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "And leave your case unfinished?" there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, discontent upon his features. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the the station." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward Serpentine Avenue. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Arthur Conan Doyle "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand particular state visit http://pglaf.org mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was her also." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. Henry Baker is a member." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Yes, there are nearly always some there." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as murdered man." feature." closing the door. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his sit on the left-hand side of the driver." window when the police appeared." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." before, for it was considerably after midnight. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own will take you up to see the machine.' would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Yesterday." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy means taking possession of that which another person has a prior dramatic, in fact." "This photograph!" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a October 9, 1890. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, to talk it over. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." answer." a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it strong and stiff." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "But she could not love him." "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "That's no good." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "Precisely." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, power." the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how must be when I saw the door open.' "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "How many? I don't know." to a light-house. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, room had already been engaged for us. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his it. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in death." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "You have carte blanche." slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "I have come for advice." pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four late." this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of the coroner come to?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy events than those which have happened in my own family." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "I guessed as much." experiences." bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do mystery!" "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in