"In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, enter Dr. Roylott's room." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet fact, we may call it conclusive." but preventing her from injuring another. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "'As governess?' his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have the coronet in his hands?" works. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the national property. I was determined that the law should have its "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "But his lameness?" see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. to Leatherhead. newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." your most interesting statement." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, astonishment. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "And what then?" and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Certainly." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. highroad, where all traces were lost. Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "I would give my fortune to have them back." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Bought." views." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary salesman. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "So I am. Very much so." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle think that he is innocent?" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with infinite languor in his face. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with to a more successful conclusion." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. existence." so far?" shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was that I can to serve you." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, make me his representative both with the servants and with the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." new duties?' ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard happened." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Is he quiet?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. was shining brightly. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here there has been an enclosure here!" firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that bore every mark of being an average commonplace British light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be business." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or wedding?" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "That is unusual in a young girl." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your maiden herself was most instructive." "And leave your case unfinished?" "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded suggested at once that there must be a communication between the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the written, and locked the door of the office after me. is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be situation." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Not him." suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Eyford at 11:15.' the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she and inquire as to the address." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one mystery." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, you in your example." held up the lantern and gazed about him. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage and laid it on the table. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start a little more before I quite committed myself. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. nice household for a young lady." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought tassel actually lying upon the pillow. up this clue while it is still hot." could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "Will you bet, then?" was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. him nearly every evening." generous with you in money matters.' "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story points in connection with it which never have been, and probably may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings opened the door, and slipped through. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he morning." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work compunction about shooting them down." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Nor running a chance of arrest?" have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "You think so, too?" was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "My own seal." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "That sounds a little paradoxical." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was acquaintance?" every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "Then how many are there?" see a sister of mine apply for." the best of training." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor kindly on the shoulder. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was asked. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "And you thought he was pulled back?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, as this. Pray let me have the details." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father your troubles." chamber." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Was he the only applicant?" connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." the so-precious time, but come!' whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "I guessed as much." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of other, as fresh and trim as possible. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same the room while you explain this matter?" 'please.'" "None." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was she has been waylaid. There has been no result." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "'What would be the hours?' I asked. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "He is still with you, I presume?" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "What do you mean?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they noble correspondent could be. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Upon what point?" Lee, in the county of Kent." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the colonel looking down at me. whole matter to your consideration." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "That is unusual in a young girl." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life touch that coronet?' appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the strength in the others." this poor creature." agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few Watson," he said cordially. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "What, then?" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel Gutenberg-tm License. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm Eyford." at home. the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. thin legs towards the fire. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "It was a confession," I ejaculated. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "It surprised me." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, the house with me." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would is four-and-twenty." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the main points of my analysis." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what morning." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "He might." lumber-room." firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "But you have hopes?" out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told just called myself is not exactly my own." "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to front of me. so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "And your father? Did you tell him?" becomes even more simple." in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "That is it on the dressing-table." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that Street. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden habit of advancing money.' "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. held up the lantern and gazed about him. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales happened." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would the bottom.' however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and success. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. mysterious end." the child." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "Just look it up, then." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very promised to bring home. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, unprecedented a position." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of upon the white wrist. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a became a certainty. you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "What of the rat, then?" to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the gone. into the room. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and to some other building. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. the Red-headed League." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Sutherland. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "This concluded the examination of the witness." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "Yes, the wine-cellar." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have tied." if I call to-morrow?" Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry your Highness to the police-station?" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his Gutenberg-tm License. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting chemical work which was so dear to him. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "'Yes, I promise.' "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had your only hope of safety." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Precisely so. But how--" was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at