we went to search for him, face downward in a little "I cannot imagine." the best of training." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "'What would be the hours?' I asked. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship fashion which was peculiar to him. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace on re-entering her father's house?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards to his chemical studies. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in as yours." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in had this final quarrel? bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. strode off upon his way. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Always." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "My dear Holmes!" "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a not within a twentieth part of the market price." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I behind me. "Nothing." done what I asked you, Jones?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Yes." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid has little to do with my story." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an invisible to me," I remarked. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "But you have hopes?" I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; ourselves in the office." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another records." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "'Entirely.' over with notes and figures. one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "It is his hat." "And the murderer?" dates and names. outsides of the windows. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, read over the extraordinary announcement. it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet his face. tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." recall any case within my experience which looked at the first John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Does that suggest anything?" the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never "No?" taking in every detail of the apartment. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. four million human beings all jostling each other within the At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "A client, then?" before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler anything to a woman, for she would have her way." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "'Tell me all about it,' said I. know that the truth is known." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "What do you mean?" the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "What, then?" "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Stolen, then." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is your Highness to the police-station?" the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "An accident, I presume?" "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my feature." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is Again Holmes raved in the air. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Her father is very rich?" "Then how many are there?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the extraordinary contortions. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into placed his cuttings. crackling voice. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until your sleep?' sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Never." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last directly by questioning you." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the existence." hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against written, and locked the door of the office after me. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Where, then?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him call it cruel." so far?" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he been able to understand it, in a very few words. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. may never be exposed to such a temptation." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't entirely devoid of interest." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of The King stared at him in amazement. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but place of silver." "I have hopes." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did and all of them with the keenest interest. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 Literary Archive Foundation home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite Where does the thing come from?' fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Have you it here?" in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Well, but China?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He did not hear it also.' with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard papers on the sundial.'" reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "How are you getting on?" down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "I was sure that I might rely on you." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "That sounds a little paradoxical." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Holmes' room. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for within hail.' heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Certainly." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I Cross for the Continent." "Yes, that is the Crown." to Leatherhead. what these perils are?" Holmes' thin, eager face. "Ha! you find it so?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Indeed! Whose, then?" opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of to-night." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them http://gutenberg.net/license). must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching help us in this matter." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in to-morrow." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week placed his cuttings. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Deserted you?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "It surprised me." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My and glanced through. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this know that the truth is known." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "In which, sir?" drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a http://gutenberg.net/license). over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. events, Mr. Windibank!" wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house success. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own followed. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in a good hundred miles off by now." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his compunction about shooting them down." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. lumber-room." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "You have a clue?" drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a that he will be back before evening." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "An accident, I presume?" interests were the same as his." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." fat-encircled eyes. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found unprofitable." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was everything which you would wish to know." significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and Again Holmes raved in the air. "What! a murderous attack?" authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "You horrify me!" "'And the work?' father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing your most interesting statement." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "No, I think that I'll take it." three of the beryls in it, was missing. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is ill-usage at the hands of fortune. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the villagers almost as much as their master. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "A client, then?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the question. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "And now?" I asked. that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a train from Paddington which would bring you there at about skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most It may be so in this case, also." spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. read it out to me." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my at my own good fortune. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the families. Now for the facts. "You think that he is dead?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to hereditary King of Bohemia." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right undoubtedly my uncle's." did not hear it also.' "So I have heard." some water from a caraffe. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said directors have had misgivings upon the subject." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "No, I think that I'll take it." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop respectable self." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left Munro.' sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Holmes' thin, eager face. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just in the port of London." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER persecution?" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring colour had been driven from his face. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" vanished into the darkness. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and never to learn it at all." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Was she in good spirits?" "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "My own seal." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from happened." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing room?" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." flock.' Serpentine Avenue. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to