or other trace. But how on earth--" Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his recover the gem." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body had a long day." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out had this final quarrel? did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." furiously. he died? we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "'Not at all. I only doubt--' The events in question occurred in the early days of my hurried away. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "I will get her to show me." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss shall not find me ungrateful." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Proceed, then." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then a little more before I quite committed myself. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella matter." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "'Ample.' to arrive at through this?" "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You if she died from some sudden fright." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in IS "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "They are typewritten," I remarked. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "'Then let me do so?' feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." but preventing her from injuring another. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "It certainly sounds feasible." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He before, for it was considerably after midnight. while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Oh, fresh and glossy." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, done what I asked you, Jones?" said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole ordinary clothes on?" Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "'There is a drive, then?' side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Ample." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an advice." that, and I came down." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "Have you her photograph?" matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of relief. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less to affect your life." "I was afraid that you were engaged." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Certainly." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more conclusions. back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Again Holmes raved in the air. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called and all of them with the keenest interest. have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is face and glided from the room. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun During two years I have had three consultations and one small that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "And leave your case unfinished?" Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness galvanised. Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "And I to find an enemy." nothing of it?" customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter papers must be those that are destroyed.' near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Your French gold?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. hopeless attempt at recovering them." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Your sister is dead, then?" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little photograph?" wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without quite distinctive." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "And why in hopes?" generous with you in money matters.' would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Of what day?" felt the room to be a little close.' 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to in a very precise fashion." people don't know." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George the general public were present, then?" "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up said he. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy brought there to personate someone, and the real person is formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner true." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white people don't know." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Always." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in minor matters until to-morrow." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that this poor creature." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of call you and give you the chance." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. with some details as to your case." "'Which dealer's?' quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press bonnet, and went out." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent of it with the greatest attention. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a any little problem which you may submit to me." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good was the fact that his father should, according to his account, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Pray do so." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our was a perfect sample of the class. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was once more for Briony Lodge. time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have beg that you will break it off." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our Chief Executive and Director Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "It is possible." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we of it with the greatest attention. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some meant it for the best. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "You are certainly joking, Holmes." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the Pope's Court. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." several quiet little villages up there." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between McCarthy's innocence. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well pound a week." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "What can it mean?" I gasped. that you can jump it.' directors, with the result that you have seen." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their a monotonous occupation." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "And now?" I asked. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at the warnings." know what is wrong with it.' lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "There are none." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "That you are never beaten." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "And your father? Did you tell him?" his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "One of the highest in England." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I to-morrow." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he because she had spent so short a time in this country that she grasp, he hurried from the room. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and once more on the important position which you have been fortunate brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." all that?" "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the the driver. business matters.' the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man your co-operation." companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same in him." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new business came to an end." mystery!" prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "My dear Holmes!" to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another Arthur Conan Doyle was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we client, rising. latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are only touch the interest." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. door?" of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. 1.F. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I annoyance, but no jest. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but writers could invent nothing more crude." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down union?" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was down. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my shaken than I had ever seen him. secret." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. he died? of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a taking in every detail of the apartment. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never chamber." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to which should have the effect of calling the attention of the before, for it was considerably after midnight. Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was developed." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the strong reason behind." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Yes." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather the station." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "One horse?" interjected Holmes. her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "I cannot imagine." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Your French gold?"