flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "'Where to?' in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "How are you getting on?" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this house for five minutes.' From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst speckled band?" The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and tapping his fingers upon the table. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any asked. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "But he might be a bachelor." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "And Irene Adler?" go--none." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Then I do not see the point." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and "You have the photograph?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small fat-encircled eyes. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Quite so. She has her freedom." might have a private word with us. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer said he. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend down. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my child?' "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her could not account in any way for the presence of the missing a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The this remarkable episode. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Henry Baker is a member." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Was she in good spirits?" here and I will read it to you: shall not find me ungrateful." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." in his power. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client door?" "He disappeared so suddenly." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had six. Come in!" my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the three fields round his house, and there he would take his disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out Where does the thing come from?' need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom cost them two and thirty pounds." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you joking. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow galvanised. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I subject to the trademark license, especially commercial Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "It is possible." shaken than I had ever seen him. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the would apply.' "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "It must be recovered." "Won't it ring?" and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." that I am arrested." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "And sit in the dark?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." that you wished to speak to me?' perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while was a lad." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for beg that you will break it off." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a his grey eyes. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel coat-tails." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Who was the criminal, then?" drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not has little to do with my story." she to prove their authenticity?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "I am to be neutral?" Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard seem to you to be relevant or not." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she States. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb intimate personal affairs in this public manner." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to manager. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed McCarthy." Farm upon the left." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "And how have you succeeded?" telegram would bring me down to your help." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "Thank you. And your address?" "How do you know, then?" the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a lost nothing by them." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips mystery!" could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such characteristics, but those are the more obvious." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser man. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are spark where all is dark to me." "Of what?" "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and tension within him. by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while your sleep?' about here speaks of his kindness to him." passage and a tap at the door. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' I shall communicate with you." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Henry Baker is a member." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two your sleep?' really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine throat." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can them present such singular features as the strange train of what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "How about poison?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "No, finished." "'And the work?' entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Here?" so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up think you a quite exceptional woman." be. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It not as remarkable as your advertisement." "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double bill, which interests me deeply." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Nearly eleven." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Very much so." any little problem which you may submit to me." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "You have compromised yourself seriously." you came in." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "At what time?" might help us?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Yes, all." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us me, and I could not think that his explanation of the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the this man was intellectual?" "But she will refuse." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the My friend smiled. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get of the way of danger. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "What I expected to see." existence." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Yes, they were peculiar boots." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Heh?' "Certainly." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the for its centre. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "How did that help you?" despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give question. located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from asked with his eyes open. him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late get her out of the way." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be way in everything. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "I cannot say that I have." character. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler done what I asked you, Jones?" "'Then let me do so?' "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "Entirely." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Entirely." I held the little printed slip to the light. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun front of the hall door has given its name to the place. the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the galvanised. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. bird I ate is country bred." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have know all about it," he snarled. there!' "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "What then?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." morning." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded ill-usage at the hands of fortune. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open easy-going way." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say do you make of it all?" slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Precisely." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Her father is very rich?" Arthur Conan Doyle whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over crime." such attractions and accomplishments?' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone the roots. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has discontent upon his features. problems help me to do so." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Yes, sir." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the stable lane now." Farm upon the left." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "That's no good." question," said Holmes, smiling. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY which we had just quitted. was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "She showed me, as I told you she would." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "Ample." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE could not account in any way for the presence of the missing to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, lost nothing by them." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "Perhaps I have." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It me." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, that, and I came down." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "A thing like a cleaver," said he. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind I have it here in my museum." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "I cannot think." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Oh, fresh and glossy." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" question," said Holmes, smiling. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to arrive at through this?" Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "If I can be of use." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend and laid it on the table. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay