with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to one or two very singular points about this room. For example, maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "What! a murderous attack?" discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my chemical work which was so dear to him. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "'Quite sure, dad.' ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know which are rolled in Rotterdam." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "You have carte blanche." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "I was mad--insane." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "Upon what point?" original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry was a lad." suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the on in his house." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the I. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great unprecedented a position." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." to you." "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that off." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and she has been waylaid. There has been no result." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his eat it." go from here to the Strand." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "Yes." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite the best of training." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "And what then?" help us in this matter." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael that you wished to speak to me?' overpowering excitement and concern. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "And what then?" she has been waylaid. There has been no result." excitement. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in maid will bring up your coffee." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a tension within him. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "What?" office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "He said too much." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "It surprised me." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your child?' To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. Edgeware Road. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. and your relations to her." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, him." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new this Miss Turner." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for even so self-evident a thing as that." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel writer." views." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate again before evening." entirely devoid of interest." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the friends, not even his own brother. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: it." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as with some details as to your case." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Well, but China?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to His name is Francis Prosper." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own that, and I came down." and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the coroner's jury." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary families. Now for the facts. "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Watson," he said cordially. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room it right.' lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." families. Now for the facts. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "'It is locked up,' I answered. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "Yes." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in points to suicide?" not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent such person." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you in one or two places in England?' perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Where, then, is my wife?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "It was an hour's good drive." the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at at once, for I have only half an hour." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn even of instruction." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours awaited us upon the table. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "Which surely he restored to their owner?" digesting their breakfasts at home." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported which our visitor detailed to us. "None." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must several quiet little villages up there." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "What have you to say now?" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "It is true that I have been generally successful." laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "Why? What do you mean?" scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Were they all fastened this morning?" my room." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit there was no need for father to know." as he remarks, very much against the son." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely copied or distributed: There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret it right.' "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "And why?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the have been better. It is all right." nonsense.' typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. I leave." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with geese which you supplied to the Alpha." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "'How far from the body?' safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker rat could hardly pass through." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "What is it, then--a fire?" idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Game for a morning drive?" always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise never to learn it at all." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Then I can wait in the next room." think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Not in the least." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "Seven!" I answered. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. evidence," I remarked. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "How can you tell that?" scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be investigation." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "I never have." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their to where he stood hid behind the curtain. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "It is possible." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start friend's singular character. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive records." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Where, indeed?" "Come in!" said Holmes. with frightened eyes at his accuser. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is you." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Married! When?" once more to my work. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a enter into my head. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be with the outside air!" "'Most admirably.' there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little anything to do with the matter?" "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Where did you address your letters, then?" away into the river." is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Again Holmes raved in the air. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it anything to do with the matter?" mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office was a perfect sample of the class. and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Witness: It was. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "His face fell immediately. "And you thought he was pulled back?" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "One horse?" interjected Holmes. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his business." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "The decline of his fortunes, then?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "She walked into the breakfast-room." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in without a word or a look. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my evidence," I remarked. the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your congratulate you again." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I shoulder. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. appointment with me for six o'clock?" spare." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but goes." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "'Yes, it was gone.' through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "Pray let us have it, for all that." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "Then you may entirely rely on me." closely." "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to nights." been deceived." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a congenial hunt. desk. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under and prosperity to your house. Good-night." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to paper in the air. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was made him keep the appointment." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's