upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her had a long day." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "'Is 4 pounds a week.' here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "Upon what point?" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," posted to-day." very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" gone before you can get him to hospital." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "My last client of the sort was a king." perplexity from it to my illustrious client. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "About a month then." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "Nothing." chambers. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "You horrify me." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far cigars in the box." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Nothing." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being public press." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is clanging. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his you?" unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his little trying to do so much typewriting?" politicians who had been sent down from the North. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley way: seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I read it out to me." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "By all means." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off when you have done it." fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was that he has suffered." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his paper in the air. without a word or a look. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the II. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours his forehead." black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Breckinridge is his name." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if tassel actually lying upon the pillow. is four-and-twenty." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no into the room. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, papers must be those that are destroyed.' wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." three fields round his house, and there he would take his Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I and shall probably return to London by the evening train." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. ceremony." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "What of the rat, then?" Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My without success. At last the little money which I had saved began everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort several quiet little villages up there." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Is he quiet?" writers could invent nothing more crude." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "On the contrary, this is the right side." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is status with the IRS. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised ordinary clothes on?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Why did you beat the pavement?" no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the stones. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and right! Sit down and let us talk it over." grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm the Assizes." will be renamed. minor matters until to-morrow." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a skylight. was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Sutherland. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight himself to tell his story. following enigmatical notices: insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "'In my own bureau.' running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'What then?' I asked. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of name is different." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "'And what are they worth?' I asked. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised the room while you explain this matter?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and brandy and water within his reach. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "The rest you will leave in our hands." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "I will, Miss Turner." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom mystery may be cleared along those lines." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge views." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "She will not sell." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a bonnet, and went out." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "Entirely." months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in miles off. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms have not had my rubber." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a useful material for showing traces. The double line a little come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties weary and pale-looking. "That is possible." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "That is not always so easy." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "Proceed, then." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would during the last few years, and there are many noble families to in the dead of the night?' the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Oh, fresh and glossy." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Yes, certainly." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of enter Dr. Roylott's room." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its and your relations to her." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common row." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found go from here to the Strand." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to me what he had done with the three missing stones. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in pictures, libraries, or plate. begun to whiten, even as mine has." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower crime. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to entirely lost his self-respect." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. key turn in the lock." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations speckled band?" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "'You doubt its value?' he asked. ashen face. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Pray let us have it, for all that." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." placed his cuttings. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the the coroner come to?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "Was your sister dressed?" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the fear." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "And the cigar-holder?" is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door all-comprehensive glances. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "And sit in the dark?" "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in to Leatherhead. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "And I to find an enemy." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." you do it in twenty minutes!' views." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the devil!" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door of the one which your family is now devouring." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? murdered man." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely and the whole place is in a blaze." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how go from here to the Strand." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "I have solved it." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to the Red-headed League." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "'Why that?' I asks. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," bearing upon the case." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "It was." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge so.' The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were were wasted." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "You'll never persuade me to believe that." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and fishes. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." goes." got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this vague figure huddled up in the darkness. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "'Yes, it was gone.' "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be before the coroner and the police-court." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must sake, don't!" be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to of Fenchurch Street." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the note?" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly mystery." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "'What then?' I asked. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler his face which made him a very different person to the round, "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. have had none more fantastic than this." should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "Not in a good cause." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked.