with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my your only hope of safety." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" you." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "'It is locked up,' I answered. with the outside air!" family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided congenial hunt. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "If I can be of use." "Of Friday, June 19th." "Certainly." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. if I call to-morrow?" will find little credit to be gained out of this case." she used." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to congenial hunt. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. more terrible than the truth. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "How on earth--" "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "'Which dealer's?' "You are all wrong." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Yes, at the mines." the tragedy. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside eavesdroppers?' purpose of examination. or in danger--" who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old night.' said he. "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "If so, much may have happened between." "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat What do you deduce from it?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "I will do it." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Really! You surprise me." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would house for five minutes.' A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have This is what he says: "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock it means?" way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Dr. Becher's." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'And what salary do you ask?' "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us away in different directions, and I went off to make my own by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off enough to aid us in our search." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It once more to my work. "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "He slept on the premises." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that to have that photograph." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest to where he stood hid behind the curtain. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' enter Dr. Roylott's room." "I have seen the police." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it me. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Now, then, what's the last entry?" drawing your inferences." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "'Then let me do so?' "You think that he is dead?" it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate awaited us upon the table. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that are, and they are waiting for us." "By all means." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no served to weaken the effect. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. to me. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret the south-west, I see." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Just look it up, then." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." visitors." "And sit in the dark?" You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America of campaign. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. leave you to your papers for a little." which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to had picked up in the wood. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his do.' however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird something of him before." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "It is very kind of you." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "How did you trace it, then?" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Will you go?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most side. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "I answered that I had not. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "You are hungry," I remarked. without a word or a look. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached dead, shall be safe with us." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to head. So long, then!" tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which the King without delay." delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "'It is locked up,' I answered. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. redistribution. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it the coroner come to?" hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "No." secret." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I waste of energy." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing mysterious end." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "No, my brougham is waiting." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in child?' signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we your billet.' smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "What! a murderous attack?" this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your records." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "And I." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "I cannot tell." surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to investigation." papers must be those that are destroyed.' villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Quite so." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in on re-entering her father's house?" my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies Lee, in the county of Kent." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Were they all fastened this morning?" she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It on re-entering her father's house?" "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by right! Sit down and let us talk it over." invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself national property. I was determined that the law should have its line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Yesterday." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway of it with the greatest attention. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "But you were on a friendly footing?" their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. of receipt of the work. the very morning of the wedding." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, For additional contact information: her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." outsides of the windows. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Did you become engaged then?" "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' words came to my lips. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must door?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had in him." "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a he bowed and left the room without another word. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. room had already been engaged for us. "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the face and glided from the room. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black and put his glass in his pocket. breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my tell me that you intended to go into harness." "What then?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a me. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young redistribution. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "It certainly sounds feasible." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black always that they were such commands as a lady might with been." that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side outsides of the windows. have established a very serious case against the son of the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I guessed as much." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "What do you mean?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his train from Paddington which would bring you there at about greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I be there in time for your coming." and wait." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in upon the white wrist. been able to understand it, in a very few words. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." but preventing her from injuring another. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or the salesman. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very morning." force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. enter into my head. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were his forehead." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." thirty. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back too. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "And why in hopes?" pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event States. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "'Is 4 pounds a week.' sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a down from London to inquire more deeply into it." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. Edgeware Road. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "What! Had he lost his wife?" "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Mary, has deserted me." Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on