violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, fashion which was peculiar to him. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to upon a handsome competence. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** ceremony." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "But how will you look?" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, I took the paper from him and read as follows: road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: emerged. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." are, I think, all that we need." upon the shelf for the interim." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm what do you think they found in the pockets?" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "The Cedars?" very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on characteristics, but those are the more obvious." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "I will try. What is it?" together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip the Assizes." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "That you are never beaten." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the over with notes and figures. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Has he come with you to-night?" the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is became a certainty. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "I don't say that. Perhaps." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the highly," said Holmes. "One of the highest in England." "On Monday." enter into my head. rooms." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." new acquaintance to Baker Street. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she "I was mad--insane." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Pray do so." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "'Ten to two.' letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I once more to my work. down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the crackling voice. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able a very grave face. one which it was hard to resist. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. dates and names. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can Project Gutenberg-tm works. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he hardly wander." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to mysterious end." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at as the one I chose?' which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Never." "Yes." "Yes, that is the Crown." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do where she found matters as described by the last witness. always that they were such commands as a lady might with to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "It certainly sounds feasible." served to weaken the effect. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "There are none." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "That is not always so easy." particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "You horrify me!" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked fishes. sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny Holmes rather sternly. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am mysterious end." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "But his lameness?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Did he not advertise?" your most interesting statement." several quiet little villages up there." hour." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip made him keep the appointment." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "How can you tell that?" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "My dear Holmes!" "'In my own bureau.' redistribution. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my of Fenchurch Street." ran thus: "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'Then let me do so?' "It is possible." "And what then?" and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Was she in good spirits?" "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "I guessed as much." Clair, of Lee." preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. murdered man." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little nonsense.' Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I do.' awkward doing business with an alias." glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement felt?" fait accompli?" "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of During two years I have had three consultations and one small casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as I nodded again. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young approach us with offers to donate. read over the extraordinary announcement. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's his grey eyes. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over But Holmes shook his head gravely. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were Heh?' us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its some terrible trap for her." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased in his hands." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. I nodded again. Lee, in the county of Kent." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I new duties?' copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I Foundation some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you and effective." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Precisely." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "But to whom?" "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to intrusion of other matters." "My dear Holmes!" The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect Where does the thing come from?' together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "He is dead," cried several voices. my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers astonishment. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me friends, not even his own brother. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled her also." him, that man would not have given me such complete information Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this strength of mind to control. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm over his head with a sweet womanly caress. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. you for a few hours?" man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider there when the Rucastles went away." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." time." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "'Yes, it was gone.' knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a manager. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was pierced for earrings?" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the spark where all is dark to me." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own back into the street. I leave." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any returning from some small jollification and was making his way that the gas is not laid on in his house?" honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "She will not sell." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "Holmes, the busybody!" which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for and inquire as to the address." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "How did you trace it, then?" very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would have had none more fantastic than this." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and we went to search for him, face downward in a little into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Ten will be early enough." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "It is no ordinary one." "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to at my remark. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by since then to throw any light upon what became of him." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the which it had come upon my father." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Yes, from Horsham." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different galvanised. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to what I may call a really hard day's work." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last present." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about might have a private word with us. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and derbies." as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing south, for the country is more deserted there." "Did he not advertise?" danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "A client, then?" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Yes." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment asked. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "You horrify me." have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for ready to-morrow?' coroner's jury." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to narrative." "Yes, all." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and could gather together that I was able to avert another public "In the cells." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is your co-operation." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "What will you do, then?" "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young "A confidential servant?" however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his appeal." "I say that I have solved it." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is to me. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's Miss Holder?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "It was an hour's good drive." it with his own hands." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide way in."