shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things question. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Can I be of assistance?" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, October 9, 1890. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "But how?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most from you?" but preventing her from injuring another. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "You think so, too?" be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "Not in a good cause." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade vault. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in nights." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from annoyance, but no jest. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "Very well, sir. And this stone?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This dead, shall be safe with us." "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have as this. Pray let me have the details." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "And why in hopes?" heavy and sharp instrument." will he say when he returns?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "You did not overhear what they said?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in hurried by. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous his face. superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "You'll never persuade me to believe that." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon ran thus: "You have carte blanche." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for later, upon the night of May 2nd." SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Married! When?" nothing of it?" and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most on in his house." America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, compunction about shooting them down." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from himself to hunt down. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I not use it unless it is absolutely needed." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been his face. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "You think that he is dead?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the to tell." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings there." to affect your life." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set annoyance, but no jest. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his "Will you go?" "To the police?" in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent again before evening." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. mysterious business." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done bird of prey. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in client, rising. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. three of the beryls in it, was missing. depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and man. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Clair, of Lee." had this final quarrel? "I have come for advice." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "'Most admirably.' "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is point in the dark hollow of his hand. my little problems." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "'Never,' said I. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the indeed which he could not unravel. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Imitated." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the outside. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." definite end. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE in a friendly supper." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Well." "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "How many? I don't know." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "It must be recovered." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss daring than any effort of the imagination." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I least a most suspicious remark." after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Yes, sir." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), trying to your nerves." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "It certainly sounds feasible." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that face and glided from the room. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Yes, there are nearly always some there." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "No, I am descending." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "In which, sir?" http://www.gutenberg.net "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "It was a confession," I ejaculated. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first brandy and water within his reach. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the front of me. round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and the Red-headed League." "And what did you see?" It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an lamp. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried in the dead of the night?' shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" to miss it." "What is it?" country, and eventually married, without anyone having a man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so Pool. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it pressing in one house as in another. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my corner of the building. "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I is," said he presently: "'Stolen!' he cried. place of silver." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Not in the least." Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Yes." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "My opinion is in no way altered." himself. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the have accepted such a situation. presume?" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat For additional contact information: in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a later, upon the night of May 2nd." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "Where did he live, then?" misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, voice, changing her seat as requested. say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "Yes." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "At what time?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the stalked out of the room. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be States. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a call you and give you the chance." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil gone. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any late." concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the away to you." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint not come at once?" fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the tell them apart.' obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "But it has twice been burgled." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for shadow pass over his face as I spoke. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "And help." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has photograph a cabinet?" summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "And why?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was jewels which you have stolen?' ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was and looked back. photograph a cabinet?" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "But I have heard all that you have heard." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that persecution?" "Witness: Nothing definite. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Holmes rather sternly. room?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, nonsense.' fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire even so self-evident a thing as that." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" which it had come upon my father." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has knowledge of the world." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point which should have the effect of calling the attention of the fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who chill to my heart. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I room had already been engaged for us. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the to-night?' he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this promised to bring home. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us since then to throw any light upon what became of him." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "No, I am descending."