that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great a very grave face. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's gbnewby@pglaf.org providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "And you don't know his address?" erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already handed it to him. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "I have come for advice." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Then I am your man." opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for leave you to your papers for a little." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "The landlord of the Alpha." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the should be so warm over such a trifle." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. papers diligently of late, have you not?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a thirty. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Yes, at the mines." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding fish-monger and a tide-waiter." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and through." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a strong and stiff." than was visible to me." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "But your client--" this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some row." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most the morning and make my own way in the world.' go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to them?" Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "How did that help you?" research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do she might be summoned. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. be.' "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" south, for the country is more deserted there." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "What shall I do?" with the outside air!" which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during some terrible trap for her." such attractions and accomplishments?' Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor intrusion of other matters." ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "And Irene Adler?" ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he go from here to the Strand." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." I was concerned in it." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had way in everything. "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, you give your casting vote to?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic place no limit on the sum I may draw." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took matter." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "An enemy?" Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat foot. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "What can it mean?" I gasped. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone clang of the bell. points to suicide?" chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of that there was nothing in it, after all." "A confidential servant?" "Then what has happened to him?" "A thing like a cleaver," said he. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' wanted for ourselves." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the crime." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "We must have a cab." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "If so, much may have happened between." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "It is solved." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but went to the Alpha were town bred." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told it." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down said he at last. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my relation between them, and what the object of his repeated his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to soul! here is her carriage at the door." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your right! Sit down and let us talk it over." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "And you don't know his address?" "This photograph!" of Mr. Rucastle's." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence nothing with him." anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. matters immensely." remarked. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and weary and pale-looking. case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, carried out of court." me have 200 pounds?' comes from the middle window." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the presented more singular features than that which was associated "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning the devil!" pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down be sorry for having acted so harshly." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Indeed! Whose, then?" our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I from you?" "10th. John Swain cleared. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and compunction about shooting them down." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "Where is it, then?" fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but your billet.' first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads you." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down persecution?" card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a know that the truth is known." Holmes' room. all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the to Leatherhead. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in certainly do as you advise." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers "He might." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me relation between them, and what the object of his repeated feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Your sister is dead, then?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no in a very precise fashion." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "I will do it." The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would spare." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still bed dies. Does not that strike you?" was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Game for a morning drive?" deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would http://gutenberg.net/license). that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so what I may call a really hard day's work." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to Street. easy-going way." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one http://www.gutenberg.net Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need the date of his supposed suicide." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Come in!" said Holmes. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "'What, the red-headed man?' one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will placed his cuttings. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Has he come with you to-night?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler fled together." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you you." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the hand, madam?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Well." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are shoulder; "he's all right." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "I cannot tell." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and brandy and water within his reach. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "'Ten to two.' License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "You will not go there first?" open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from shall use the carriage to-night." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Ample." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "I am following you closely," I answered. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was drawing your inferences." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with back into the street. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was galvanised. "What can it mean?" I gasped. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange vault. wife's character?" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had formed some opinion?" McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we before, for it was considerably after midnight. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Certainly." pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater photograph a cabinet?" that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double client, rising. into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. and looked back. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice fuss that is made over them." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had the iron safe, which he closed upon it. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform for securing the situation." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little compunction about shooting them down." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of three fields round his house, and there he would take his through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love you." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You of your young ladies.' square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the so-precious time, but come!' "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I sofa. This way, please!" taking in every detail of the apartment. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you not as remarkable as your advertisement." would apply.' lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "She told me to ask you." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past My friend smiled. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is matter." "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so morning." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, eavesdroppers?' why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to outbreak?" an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the other lovers by making love himself." broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "None." the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "I cannot as yet see any connection."