my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "'Most admirably.' and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on searched, without anything being found which could incriminate vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady placed his cuttings. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons promised to bring home. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." behind me. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in matter over." his fortune, and I went back to pa. delighted to hear it," he said. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that fasten all the windows?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress round with crates and massive boxes. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Yes, that is the Crown." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, held up the lantern and gazed about him. fluttered off among the others. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an held up the lantern and gazed about him. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, sparkled upon his finger. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in towards the blaze. "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news neither fascinating nor artistic." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for I nodded to show that I had heard. orange pips. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Was there a secret marriage?" making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must again." "No, finished." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, His smile broadened. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "This concluded the examination of the witness." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any the bed, and you in that chair." Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Holmes' face clouded over. "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "I cannot tell." you." Pope's Court. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I unprecedented a position." Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "But how could you guess what the motive was?" sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in from you?" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out for the market.' cup of tea. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Pray be precise as to details," said he. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. has little to do with my story." possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "And what then?" "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "What I expected to see." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, client, rising. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Yes, he did." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and and all of them with the keenest interest. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Then I shall certainly come." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Now, then, what's the last entry?" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "'Stolen!' he cried. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from system of imprisonment?" "Yes?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. shaken than I had ever seen him. and capable of preserving a secret.' "But how will you look?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, these bleak autumnal evenings." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do putting in the horse. do." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot It may be so in this case, also." from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "But not more so than I to find you." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain helping a boy to put up the shutters. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Tired-looking or fresh?" garden below. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Stoke Moran?" said he. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Why did you beat the pavement?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are have had none more fantastic than this." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, the warnings." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "But not more so than I to find you." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when it." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all be best to do. Surrey." something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's roused himself from his reverie. and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "One horse?" interjected Holmes. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running and the whole place is in a blaze." face and glided from the room. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to beg that you will break it off." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in I have it here in my museum." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home standing smiling on the door-step. attention." matter." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. occupations.' "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is be. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself maiden herself was most instructive." "9th. McCauley cleared. "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his neither fascinating nor artistic." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Then how many are there?" "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her into the bag, and made for the door. behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Upon what point?" is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: this Miss Turner." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I new duties?' twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. floor. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "What I expected to see." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to stepfather?" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was the armchair which I pushed forward for him. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We plantation.' little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "Very much so." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had the devil!" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "Seven!" I answered. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. he bowed and left the room without another word. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It Project Gutenberg-tm works. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Well, some hundreds of times." "What! a murderous attack?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in key of the affair now." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, of the efforts of the United States government and of the better make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "His face fell immediately. him!" subject to the trademark license, especially commercial only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "That also I could fathom." call it cruel." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Awake, Watson?" he asked. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their other, as fresh and trim as possible. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "What I expected to see." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "'Yes.' following enigmatical notices: chance." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from dates and names. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Edgeware Road. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal bell. Holmes whistled. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. o'clock is it?" What do you deduce from it?" know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, narrative." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my matter." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Quite so. She has her freedom." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the carpenter." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Upon what point?" on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a go back?" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all was lame." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all Holmes' face clouded over. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that carpenter." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary train.' deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the ceremony." Does that suggest anything?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do