501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight amused." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted kind enough to tell me what I should do." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "It missed him, then?" more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "'Is 4 pounds a week.' bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "He slept on the premises." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." events, Mr. Windibank!" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Did you become engaged then?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has and your relations to her." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Yes, only one." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "Yes." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Was the window open?" "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong fuss that is made over them." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of new duties?' His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a him nearly every evening." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "By no means." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend interested in these little problems, and since you are good deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there to have been novel and of interest." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate that I am arrested." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, in a friendly supper." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, and wait." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to unprecedented a position." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by you in yours." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not desk. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the been with you?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? are windows in it, of course?" nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major advice." keep the flames under. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an maid will bring up your coffee." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest his cane at the bell-pull. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding late." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of placed his cuttings. the station." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his man. I know him from the photograph." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally meant it for the best. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the begun to whiten, even as mine has." started for the Temple to see my husband. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads interests were the same as his." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "And that is--" to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with not interfere, come what may. You understand?" do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no them present such singular features as the strange train of having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no throat." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in at home. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we all that?" expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while III. I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just key of the affair now." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all the matter." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. your only hope of safety." affection." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would cigars in their mouths. we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten this poor creature." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "What! a murderous attack?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the good for you to do.' very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a province." in him." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the think that any burglar could have done. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "'Where could I find him?' prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "To ruin me." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue your Highness to the police-station?" "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and opened the door, and slipped through. read it out to me." nights." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which fire. You quite follow me?" wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and the nursery. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have colour had been driven from his face. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a of it with the greatest attention. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing to surprise her." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "'What do you call purely nominal?' thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not information in his hands the value of which he did not himself evidence," I remarked. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. orange pips. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, come either from the window or the door. My attention was "But how could you guess what the motive was?" then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "And on what day did he meet his death?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. returned to France?" be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some washing it down with a long draught of water. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His "Witness: Nothing definite. "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "That you are never beaten." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely nonsense.' be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little had died away into the silence from which it rose. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." outside." two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent roused himself from his reverie. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Yes, that is the Crown." seen the man in the road." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I and inquire as to the address." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are indiscretion." "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds that I can to serve you." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." returning from some small jollification and was making his way She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately the dangers which encompass me." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could there was no need for father to know." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, note?" value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than touch that coronet?' gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "VIOLET HUNTER." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. really the only notable feature about the thing." that I may have something better before very many minutes are copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a trying to your nerves." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "And how have you succeeded?" Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, friend's singular character. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "What of the rat, then?" slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of cigars in their mouths. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of been able to understand it, in a very few words. other lovers by making love himself." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. question," said Holmes, smiling. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular 'I should be able to look after that for you.' something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You weighed down with some great anxiety. directly by questioning you." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case and a shock of very red hair. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "And it is--" With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from absorbing." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point him nearly every evening." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "I think it very unlikely." to change my dress. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular of receipt of the work. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "You think so, too?" has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "It certainly sounds feasible." with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." that threaten you." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few him. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from away into the river." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll the armchair which I pushed forward for him. goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "And you don't know his address?" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "What do you mean?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly must be when I saw the door open.' have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when colonel looking down at me. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the bill, which interests me deeply." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "I should like to see him very much." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, companion. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable of Fenchurch Street." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "'Never.' course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as see me here to avoid scandal." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after when your master had gone out." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." trying to your nerves." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "No, thank goodness, she did not." jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "My dear Holmes!" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign Pope's Court, Fleet Street." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion examination of the premises, but without finding anything which stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks,