the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "About a month then." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "And why in hopes?" tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and "It was." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself union?" "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "How are you getting on?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "It came here." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots "But the mystery?" "About a month then." "But he might be a bachelor." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save shaken than I had ever seen him. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "Ample." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Very truly yours, huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had acquaintance?" We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, do.' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began the driver. Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our the ceiling. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, in. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but them present such singular features as the strange train of equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a I nodded to show that I had heard. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting fled together." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the upon an income of about 60 pounds." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in burst into a hearty fit of laughter. the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "We must have a cab." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, shoulder; "he's all right." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it place, I think that there is good ground to think that the fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I Mary, has deserted me." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "None." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the as he folded up the epistle. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Why serious?" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California 1.E.9. on re-entering her father's house?" in him." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "No, I am descending." Gutenberg-tm License. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a felt?" "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to already been minutely examined." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong the general public were present, then?" "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat http://www.gutenberg.net I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "In which, sir?" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two than to us. the devil!" reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain you for a few hours?" stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I legal crime." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but a suggestive one." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. said I. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand outside." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. prisoner's face. act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the I was concerned in it." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to DISSOLVED. "Ha! you find it so?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless minor matters until to-morrow." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in to change my dress. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Eyford." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "'You cannot say what it was?' asked with his eyes open. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at delirious. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "And you don't know his address?" as yours." other means.' seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "It must be recovered." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have less than 26s. 4d. acted in my house last night?" beg that you will break it off." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in could not have written that. It is the German who is so naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and in a very precise fashion." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and only touch the interest." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide brought there to personate someone, and the real person is tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "And your father? Did you tell him?" outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "But his lameness?" increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her presented more singular features than that which was associated "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his asked. "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "At half-wages, in fact." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Not yet." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, handed it to him. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as awkward doing business with an alias." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact over part of the map. "What do you read?" graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "'Never,' said I. "That also I could fathom." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "That is it on the dressing-table." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Won't it ring?" both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. pressing in one house as in another. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past highroad, where all traces were lost. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "But how?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "I don't say that. Perhaps." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." could not have written that. It is the German who is so with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "You have but to name it." "Was he the only applicant?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Get out!" said he. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It respectable self." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Holmes' thin, eager face. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would man. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" for securing the situation." I have it here in my museum." "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Texas, I think." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid thirty. generous with you in money matters.' and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of my friend's incisive reasoning. passage and a tap at the door. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" this as likely?" bearing upon the case." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat him." "He slept on the premises." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much Cross for the Continent." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were behind me. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "I should be immensely obliged to you." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "It may not come to that," said Holmes. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "And your mother is alive?" have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Did your wife hear all this?" "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than and looked back. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that help us in this matter." goes." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an the window, rose as we entered. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I knowledge of the world." over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might plantation.' again on its way. "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. fluttered off among the others. "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left fashion which was peculiar to him. "None." "Very. But will he see it?" serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all into the bag, and made for the door. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the your room." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. have had none more fantastic than this." "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and these bleak autumnal evenings." "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post like gravel from a pit.' should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just for its centre. sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "But you have hopes?" and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Then you may be so with me." All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and said he. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it colonel looking down at me. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to