writer." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said and capable of preserving a secret.' it." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted said he. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Pray tell us what has happened to you." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "And how in the world did you find them?" His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be Pool. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters time." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a affection." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be cigar and let me expound." to that open window." to a more successful conclusion." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have kindly on the shoulder. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him becomes even more simple." little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at leaning back in his chair. girl said." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, will take you up to see the machine.' my former friend and companion. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a desk. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler His name is Francis Prosper." investigation." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "It is a murder, then?" There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited will not take me long to tell. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the floor. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would to some other building. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a definite end. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself events than those which have happened in my own family." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the a very grave face. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's bearing upon the case." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "Do you know him?" He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for distinguish the words: down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might success. appeared upon the scene." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have never will be, entirely cleared up. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" only touch the interest." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I present." certainly not very gracious." indeed which he could not unravel. a good hundred miles off by now." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah conclusions. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try chemical work which was so dear to him. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it as the one I chose?' "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new have been better. It is all right." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a question you as to those details which seem to me to be most by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of there were so many in the whole country as were brought together tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. hardly wander." already referred to. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "'Where to?' would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not into the room. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have again, where I was soon asleep. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest bird of prey. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." "It is half-past ten now." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine you give your casting vote to?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to as yours." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Yes." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this together. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was wanted for ourselves." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was something of him before." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to compunction about shooting them down." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "'What do you call purely nominal?' "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned minor matters until to-morrow." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it lips." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Ha! you find it so?" and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of sit on the left-hand side of the driver." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "No, distinctly professional." "Her father is very rich?" of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you to-night?' value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a the address that was given us in the advertisement. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "How did he come?" it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from your equipment. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to http://gutenberg.net/license). I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are province." neither fascinating nor artistic." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at at my own good fortune. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "'Ten to two.' Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the forebodings. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to whereabouts. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Nothing?" the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face Holmes' thin, eager face. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination of fine shops and stately business premises that they really beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate fasten all the windows?" of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "How long did she speak to this Alice?" very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I arrangements." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "But you have hopes?" where we are going." conclusions. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your carried out of court." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent with you?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." 'please.'" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a later, upon the night of May 2nd." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was rat could hardly pass through." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City rose-bushes. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical hereditary King of Bohemia." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the have had none more fantastic than this." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" them?" to change my dress. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an did not hear it also.' difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "But you have hopes?" said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "By no means." written, and locked the door of the office after me. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at hair?' "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a records." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your weigh very heavily upon my conscience." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "It surprised me." "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. in my life." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our discontent upon his features. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "The doctor?" and looked back. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "'Oh, no.' us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" again before evening." 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "That is easily got." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "You think so, too?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "One of the highest in England." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "And from a noble client?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Precisely so. But how--" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "A greater distance to travel." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know galvanised. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "Entirely." "Yes." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking even of instruction." "What then?" chamber." "So I heard. You have him here?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very business." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, again." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "You have but to name it." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' whole matter to your consideration." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the forehead. upon the sideboard." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the over here." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! affection." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he never will be, entirely cleared up. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from developed." object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence ready to-morrow?' "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your keep the flames under. direction." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional other lovers by making love himself." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment generous with you in money matters.' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. seven miles from Eyford Station.' nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "But who is he?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Yes?" "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "How did you deduce the select?" "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "And it is--" the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to fishes. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap,