seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for true." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced miles off. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "And who is her maid?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "Nothing?" only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "You think so, too?" common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But of Mr. Rucastle's." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the The events in question occurred in the early days of my or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "You heard nothing yourself last night?" money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what gone. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; the loss of it. save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. situation." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic little trying to do so much typewriting?" "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw me where it went to?" "I answered that I had not. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Which are?" "It is no ordinary one." cause to be." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," crime. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "But to whom?" The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found you in your example." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "My dear Holmes!" "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "I say it is." whereabouts. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Holmes. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. golden eyeglasses. locked." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' to-night." John Swain, of St. Augustine. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the and wait." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own that the gas is not laid on in his house?" weary and pale-looking. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "'I have already given you my word.' "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. tied." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle a monotonous occupation." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "And sit in the dark?" condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "Not yet." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. row." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "You were travelling in the States?" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to said he. "So I am. Very much so." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway way in everything. "Then, as to money?" "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Yes." "Very much so." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and swore that no one else had been in the front room during the the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine of them has the shutters up.' we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "'Yes, sir.' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." call for it in person on Monday morning.' a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, Dr. Gregory B. Newby "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said that you wished to speak to me?' Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." ready to-morrow?' something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "And from a noble client?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Then I am your man." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good important." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small for the market.' carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid empty. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, his cane at the bell-pull. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling enough to aid us in our search." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Well, but China?" dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Two days later this same performance was gone through under fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he for and were ordered to this address. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "And Miss Sutherland?" story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an upon the shelf for the interim." "My dear Holmes!" the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "'I have already given you my word.' "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "'In my own bureau.' to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be knowledge of the world." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my one or two very singular points about this room. For example, week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Foundation was already answered. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Always." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be charge against him will break down." "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "May I see it?" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third such person." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes Count Von Kramm." thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Surrey." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up system of imprisonment?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed you, my dear young lady?' wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them it were putty." view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six searched, without anything being found which could incriminate general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "I see no marks." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "And why in hopes?" successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." leave you to your papers for a little." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this said Mr. Holder. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" prisoner's face. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. said he. gbnewby@pglaf.org horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really looking up at the numbers of the houses." politicians who had been sent down from the North. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice me. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but are windows in it, of course?" what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." such person." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your down from London to inquire more deeply into it." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the that he has suffered." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but electronic works endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I train.' Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, there were so many in the whole country as were brought together than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." it." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of introspective fashion. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Very much so." "And the cigar-holder?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "But his left-handedness." so far?" of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We business?" constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he means taking possession of that which another person has a prior St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "No." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a your troubles." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "You know me, then?" action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and when you have done it." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. during that time.' I have it here in my museum." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a round with crates and massive boxes. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "But your client--" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "But we can't all be." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "'It is locked up,' I answered. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." the inquest, and which are worth considering." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. at a side door. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "How many? I don't know." third from London." attention." to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account