which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that will not take me long to tell. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. young Openshaw's." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this arms and began to sob in a high treble key. client, rising. that I can to serve you." Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "How can you tell that?" brain must have something in it." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It might have a private word with us. all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too my little problems." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps have I gained?" fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story had formerly been in part my own. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you but preventing her from injuring another. my secret was safe in his possession. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as salesman. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but gbnewby@pglaf.org reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" himself to hunt down. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." her also." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "Yes?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "And I say east," said my patient. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very situation." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of been anything against him. He had for years been known as a trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as what these perils are?" been shamefully used." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Come in!" said he. "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and in a very precise fashion." is a common subject for conversation. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his and files of the old papers, following the future career of every child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the province." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "It came here." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "Ten will be early enough." To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain there!' the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "That is possible." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in figure." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Certainly." is so. I know all about McCarthy." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where awaited us upon the table. wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "What of the rat, then?" nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper generous with you in money matters.' cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. seven miles from Eyford Station.' goes." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his coroner's jury." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and "Frequently." villagers almost as much as their master. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the I was concerned in it." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a a few minutes he said that it would be all right. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw ran thus: "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried remarked. "No, but the enclosure is." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "'Certainly not.' Miss Holder?" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous his eyes and forehead. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, already referred to. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the outside. used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Holmes rather sternly. to talk it over. society." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' me. You must get home instantly and act." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, open." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his unclasping of his long thin hands. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges exactly what you advise." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood you in yours." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "The vanishing of the lady." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she business." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his everything which you would wish to know." others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a out of this horrible affair." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, opened a pocket-book and took out a note. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I as this. Pray let me have the details." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a young Openshaw's." halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "I am following you closely," I answered. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking habit of advancing money.' as yours." main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then a little more before I quite committed myself. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really of fine shops and stately business premises that they really that the gas is not laid on in his house?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there Holmes' room. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." some water from a caraffe. crime." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "I would pay ten." There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, union?" ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty populous neighbourhood." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly instincts rose up against that laugh. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something other lovers by making love himself." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "No, finished." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor excitement. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had and the church but not where the lady lived." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man least a most suspicious remark." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "But she will refuse." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that of campaign. begun to whiten, even as mine has." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical delirious. "I will get her to show me." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing into the bag, and made for the door. "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. John Swain, of St. Augustine. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary you want, then?' monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, forbidden door. already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming dear old homesteads?" more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "Yes, certainly." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said as this. Pray let me have the details." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin hurried away. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "I cannot say that I have." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a me. You must get home instantly and act." association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Then I am your man." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Will you bet, then?" "That is not always so easy." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in your bag." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was ceremony." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock gentleman's clothes. did not hear it also.' charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the with you?" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at weighed down with some great anxiety. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw is acting for the best. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were himself. o'clock is it?" This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Seven!" I answered. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, through." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was some water from a caraffe. down. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "Texas, I think." followed. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange room?" spark where all is dark to me." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. good-night and bustled off upon her way. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "In heaven's name, what for?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one delirious. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that do." he. The summons was a brief and urgent one. to Leatherhead. grasp, he hurried from the room. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we you?' rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got we went to search for him, face downward in a little make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the nonsense.' glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my vault. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a his knees, staring into the fire. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about desk. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Yes, they were peculiar boots." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Who was the criminal, then?" "You think that he is dead?" "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "His face fell immediately. matter." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." my room." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "I never have." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Yes." crime." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "And how in the world did you find them?" formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, returned to France?" Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Yes, that is the Crown." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who tell me that you intended to go into harness." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Not yet." "Do you go out much in society?" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "'There is a drive, then?' "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed forecastle of an emigrant ship. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. DAMAGE. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and your own bird, so if you wish--" considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the good for you to do.' the general public were present, then?" "He said that you could solve anything." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Foundation year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set