I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as where she found matters as described by the last witness. "And you can do nothing until then?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help lamp in his hand. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the rose-bushes. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable views." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of words came to my lips. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but round with crates and massive boxes. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "I shall most certainly do so." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "And on what day did he meet his death?" his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "'How far from the body?' little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. appeal." against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer sneer upon his pale face. and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in she used." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "And when will you call?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" his cane at the bell-pull. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, have established a very serious case against the son of the The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "What will you do, then?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. again on its way. treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "What shall I do?" chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Absolutely none." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George bell. Holmes whistled. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for him!" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "None." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "Yes, all." "Yes, sir." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. rooms." settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "'A dozen yards or so.' continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. straighten it?" "Witness: I must still refuse. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, are windows in it, of course?" "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "My last client of the sort was a king." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "'Certainly,' I answered. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Who was the criminal, then?" adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the nothing with him." I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "By all means." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. good-night and bustled off upon her way. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a in this way: into the room. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "I answered that I had not. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "I say it is." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are his grey eyes. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray spark where all is dark to me." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for despaired of." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. all?" which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Quite so. She has her freedom." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "No." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should chamber." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "'It is locked up,' I answered. congenial hunt. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "Nothing." tear off another piece?' in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found conclusions. "I will, Miss Turner." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving a good hundred miles off by now." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California the King without delay." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a stepfather?" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the note?" settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see leaning back in his chair. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' ordinary clothes on?" "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel searched, without anything being found which could incriminate every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the voice. this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few weigh very heavily upon my conscience." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of round with crates and massive boxes. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and some terrible trap for her." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "'Why that?' I asks. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Look there!" said he. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "I will get her to show me." "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of really the only notable feature about the thing." whether it answered to the description of any of their brain must have something in it." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for something of him before." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his III. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously nonsense.' occupations.' named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Come in!" said he. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the during which he might have communicated with his friend the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some bill, which interests me deeply." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that went to the Alpha were town bred." "There are none." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." friend's singular character. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "'I am sure that I do not know.' "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "No, my brougham is waiting." "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "I am to be neutral?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "'Never,' said I. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." me upon any point which I do not make clear." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek which it had come upon my father." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." and the church but not where the lady lived." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the bell. Holmes whistled. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, furiously. read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish Holmes' thin, eager face. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Never." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "Well." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for electronic works "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "'Entirely.' comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best obstinate." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood hour?' the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would the house with me." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are not within a twentieth part of the market price." the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "It's nothing of the kind." going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of acted in my house last night?" that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his the Red-headed League." ready to-morrow?' "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the locked." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if back alive. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a Have you good authority for what you say?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "How many? I don't know." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such golden eyeglasses. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you generous with you in money matters.' do.' The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 quite distinctive." "Do you go out much in society?" description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "What!" he roared. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the II. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to memory. "But his left-handedness." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Then you may entirely rely on me." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "'Entirely.' his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One he. companion. how narrow had been my escape. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Not yet." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "None." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have James Windibank. Voilà tout!" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the call you and give you the chance." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" dramatic, in fact." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "'Where could I find him?' the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been Sutherland?" 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the opened the door, and slipped through. meant it for the best. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "I say that I have solved it." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Yes, but only for you and me." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could my room." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it fait accompli?" been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and the colonel ushered me in. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, we went to search for him, face downward in a little "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as