who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "And what then?" "Why, what do you mean?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish ready to-morrow?' upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "And I to find an enemy." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "How long did she speak to this Alice?" McCarthy's innocence. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "No, I think that I'll take it." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it voice, changing her seat as requested. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in cost them two and thirty pounds." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' there." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my bears upon the case?" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" correct than the official force." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view to some other building. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could to some other building. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary once more for Briony Lodge. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. make me his representative both with the servants and with the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." where we are going." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, outside." new acquaintance to Baker Street. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter power." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. quickly through a disagreeable task. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large http://www.gutenberg.net the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "What of the rat, then?" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they my former friend and companion. "Did you observe the colour?" "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "And how?" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "'Most admirably.' previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of good for you to do.' possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about "Yes, that is the Crown." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. interested in these little problems, and since you are good presented more singular features than that which was associated anything to a woman, for she would have her way." bedroom door." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken his wife has ceased to love him." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' and glanced through. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself breakfast?" to tell." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and him." "If so, much may have happened between." and put his glass in his pocket. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain to arrive at through this?" "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. she might be summoned. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any of Mr. Rucastle's." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "And how in the world did you find them?" that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "Precisely so. But how--" "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots in this way: awkward doing business with an alias." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "'Entirely.' little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Perfectly so." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "'Is 4 pounds a week.' rat could hardly pass through." a suggestive one." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, distinguish the words: could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. chair. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking important." quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "Never." mysterious end." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to is acting for the best. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, McCarthy's innocence. families. Now for the facts. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their too. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "It is possible." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "But I am all in the dark." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an relation between them, and what the object of his repeated when your master had gone out." provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange despair." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and hands. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an newspaper selections." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in had died away into the silence from which it rose. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. name is different." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is "That also I could fathom." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers to-night." there when the Rucastles went away." "I will not look." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' floor. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned your co-operation." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very your equipment. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy trying to your nerves." "ARAT," I read. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "'Yes, it was gone.' brain must have something in it." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and past. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the danger is over." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Now, then, what's the last entry?" to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common not, dad?" she asked. about. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked License. You must require such a user to return or "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the dramatic, in fact." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and thin legs towards the fire. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next dramatic, in fact." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such walking." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your useful material for showing traces. The double line a little gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For written. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, floor. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Was your sister dressed?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited some city in a dream. "Yes." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. to talk it over. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to eat it." the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly in this note: returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "And did you observe any change in her then?" I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case he. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a formed some opinion?" "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the colonel looking down at me. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "What, then, did Peterson do?" Holmes. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. as noiselessly as she had come. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but and files of the old papers, following the future career of every broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded she has been waylaid. There has been no result." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if there!' why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, as the one I chose?' examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." and put his glass in his pocket. with the outside air!" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended as this. Pray let me have the details." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "I warn you that they are very incomplete." reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of I nodded to show that I had heard. said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he bird I ate is country bred." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have at home. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we individual and becomes the badge of a society." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "'Most admirably.' "And is that all?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, attention." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "Certainly." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. have established a very serious case against the son of the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "He said too much." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a woven round him. Pope's Court. "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "What office?"