twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to held up the lantern and gazed about him. come either from the window or the door. My attention was of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right was already answered. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no highroad, where all traces were lost. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' very morning of my second wedding." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his disturbance in my wife." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Oh, yes, easily." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we gone. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper power." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 one of them." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "I shall most certainly do so." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in certainly do as you advise." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than long narrative. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it But Holmes shook his head gravely. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Who by?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked a monotonous occupation." sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "The vanishing of the lady." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "BALLARAT." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'You doubt its value?' he asked. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. next day. "I am following you closely," I answered. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without said he. have had none more fantastic than this." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal very peculiar words of the dying woman?" interest. They are important, you understand, without being Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has quickly through a disagreeable task. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the power." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Project Gutenberg-tm works. Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Well." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind My friend smiled. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me experiences." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "Then he might have called to you?" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "My photograph." the stones. narrative." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Was there a secret marriage?" new acquaintance to Baker Street. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a horse could go." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Where is it, then?" fear." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project despaired of." Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after married her." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I tension within him. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of was once confined in the cab my mission was practically one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I public press." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." I shall communicate with you." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Will you go?" Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the peculiar to him. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he II. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an handed it to him. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up His name is Francis Prosper." great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the bled considerably." and wait." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. case before our client came into the room." His name is Francis Prosper." held up the lantern and gazed about him. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the call the police, let the police find what they can.' "'And what salary do you ask?' the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when enough to aid us in our search." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, furiously. held up the lantern and gazed about him. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Certainly, madam." respectable self." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "How did he come?" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Married! When?" 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' even so self-evident a thing as that." locked. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I with you alone." "On your arm?" dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "On the contrary, this is the right side." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united matter." All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "The Coroner: What do you mean? only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. quickly through a disagreeable task. affair. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even him nearly every evening." "Stoke Moran?" said he. "Who by?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the roots. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Married! When?" official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "No legal papers or certificates?" already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "It is his hat." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "At the wedding breakfast." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from and put his glass in his pocket. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "But of what society?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that This is what he says: The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so clang of the bell. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "Yes, certainly." know what is wrong with it.' however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "You don't mind breaking the law?" "But what will you do?" only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed fait accompli?" tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "It surprised me." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he I approached. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to answered with a sidelong glance. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over several quiet little villages up there." result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Certainly." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door ourselves in the office." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "My own seal." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, back alive. During two years I have had three consultations and one small article?" brain must have something in it." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, not come at once?" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "You did not overhear what they said?" thirty. me. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "It missed him, then?" brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be entirely lost his self-respect." during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are telegram would bring me down to your help." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in fuss that is made over them." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, and it need not interfere very much with one's other over with notes and figures. "10th. John Swain cleared. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "It is very kind of you." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My brought there to personate someone, and the real person is the little opening for the ventilator is." ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "I know where it is." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up that you wished to speak to me?' wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he someone who had been in Australia." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not him, that man would not have given me such complete information sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at that you saw all that I did." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I remarked. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers other lovers by making love himself." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "By no means." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "But you have hopes?" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low a little more before I quite committed myself. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold Henry Baker is a member." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "'Where could I find him?' can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "How many? I don't know." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "'Why that?' I asks. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was third from London." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else and I shall be with you presently." "'It is locked up,' I answered. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "What, then, did Peterson do?" not as remarkable as your advertisement." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "They are typewritten," I remarked. effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were in your London, you will know that the office of the company is dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that more solid." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William once more for Briony Lodge. notes," he said. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "Dr. Becher's." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than