When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "That is also quite modern," said the lady. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of public press." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "And the murderer?" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no now. It seems that there had been some informality about their matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." introspective fashion. his grey eyes. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that case before our client came into the room." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." address. important." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening more terrible than the truth. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the it were putty." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "None." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Then the page we have seen--" always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. of your young ladies.' "Perfectly so." as this. Pray let me have the details." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "On your arm?" on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us into her hand at the door and which lured her within their We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Then I do not see the point." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the despair." brandy and water within his reach. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the 1.F. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The words came to my lips. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." a monotonous occupation." Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" throat." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while article?" lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to him nearly every evening." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is the salesman. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some fat-encircled eyes. "'Yes, I promise.' red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "When did it break out?" people in all walks of life. ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' not fit the lock." galvanised. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "'Quite sure, dad.' "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I if I call to-morrow?" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "I see no marks." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "And I say east," said my patient. "What is it?" "'Tell me all about it,' said I. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police events than those which have happened in my own family." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "You are hungry," I remarked. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." have been better. It is all right." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "No." month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "She showed me, as I told you she would." woven round him. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An investigation." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" long narrative. a little more before I quite committed myself. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The fire. You quite follow me?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, anything to a woman, for she would have her way." was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." as this. Pray let me have the details." myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear place of silver." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" opened a pocket-book and took out a note. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more investigation." "There is the writing." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the interested in these little problems, and since you are good as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain I approached. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever and the colonel ushered me in. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "But he might be a bachelor." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip call for it in person on Monday morning.' save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of how narrow had been my escape. "'There is a drive, then?' entirely lost his self-respect." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the gone. "No." are windows in it, of course?" arrangements." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of thirty. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "But she will refuse." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Certainly." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "And is that all?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose your equipment. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the indeed which he could not unravel. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "'A dozen yards or so.' "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "'Where could I find him?' be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in that and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing papers diligently of late, have you not?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he which I could not give. He asked for Alice. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found foresight and the moral retrogression?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "But I am all in the dark." "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover not interfere, come what may. You understand?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best happened." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this such person." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into and it need not interfere very much with one's other could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon that I can to serve you." As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." disturbance in my wife." can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, do." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "And why in hopes?" and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Well?" upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. your bag." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." Cross for the Continent." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "At what time?" drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "And how did you verify them?" 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out footfalls from the street. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's points to suicide?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it http://www.gutenberg.net Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of already been minutely examined." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You here." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a floor. "And Irene Adler?" dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears is," said he presently: the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever shadow pass over his face as I spoke. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to and wait." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "A call for help, you thought?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "'Certainly not. But why?' Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very shaken than I had ever seen him. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "'You doubt its value?' he asked. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Pray do so." considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the weary and pale-looking. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain security.' have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem yards of it?' postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every silent! Oh, he will be silent!' this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "'About the same.' thin, with a long, sharp nose?" moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction intimate personal affairs in this public manner." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise hopeless attempt at recovering them." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose we went to search for him, face downward in a little "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. than was visible to me." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his during that time.' father's place of business?" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." said he. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a your own bird, so if you wish--" didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and breakfast." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project charge against him will break down." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found details." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly him!" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "He disappeared so suddenly." made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "That's no good." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked to a light-house. "I cannot as yet see any connection." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you emerged. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "I never have." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. go--none." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of sentimental considerations in the background which would induce would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "In San Francisco, a year ago." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, not as remarkable as your advertisement." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must just ask you whether you had heard it.' about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from mystery may be cleared along those lines." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife."