"Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, and effective." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "But you were on a friendly footing?" which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Yes." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "I never have." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by point in the dark hollow of his hand. his face. head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, individual and becomes the badge of a society." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Was the window open?" for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "It is half-past ten now." asked. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. examine." him." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps not interfere, come what may. You understand?" populous neighbourhood." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "You forget that I know nothing about it." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "What steps will you take?" I asked. "I shall most certainly do so." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little through." Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we second." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a humiliation." "No. What a strange idea!" something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "You have compromised yourself seriously." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "I was certainly surprised to find you there." it." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would occurred." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "Where is it, then?" an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture all that?" absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely Have you good authority for what you say?" how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, been with you?" contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Very truly yours, "But I have heard all that you have heard." delighted to hear it," he said. prisoner's face. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His absorbing." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of neither fascinating nor artistic." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "And sit in the dark?" foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring him nearly every evening." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "I never have." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a like that before?" snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "To the police?" "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "How on earth--" Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your hands. bachelor.' bled considerably." "I am about to be married." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "The murder was done with it." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a corner of the building. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. highroad, where all traces were lost. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom both be extremely obliged.' newspaper selections." "Did you become engaged then?" uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful hair?' believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something was keenly on my guard against him. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "How did you deduce the select?" learned something! Where are the gems?" himself to hunt down. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Her father is very rich?" "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always of his shoulders. "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "I do." into the bag, and made for the door. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt fishes. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "Eh? What was that?" "A confidential servant?" them?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "9th. McCauley cleared. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "Yes, the wine-cellar." finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "What is it?" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. DAMAGE. the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "Yes, that is the Crown." "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "It is very kind of you." "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay cigar and let me expound." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "The landlord of the Alpha." undoubtedly my uncle's." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Yes, certainly." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable remarked. for and were ordered to this address. "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms I held the little printed slip to the light. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst peculiar to him. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these over here." Where does the thing come from?' "So I have heard." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me address. "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "It is true that I have been generally successful." the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the highroad, where all traces were lost. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "What can it mean?" I gasped. "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "'I am sure if I had known--' "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, From what you have told me I think that it is possible that I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "And who is her maid?" I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She shall not find me ungrateful." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. disturbance in my wife." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "You have a clue?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen notes," he said. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Then how many are there?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "That is easily got." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers used to be." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand the station." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon woman." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with country, and eventually married, without anyone having a knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "What! Had he lost his wife?" was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last fattened it expressly for you.' his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. conduct the inquiry." "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do house for five minutes.' thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my and a shock of very red hair. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "I assure you that I am in your hands." providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "They are typewritten," I remarked. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." true." a monotonous occupation." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a clang of the bell. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "No, I am descending." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that jewels which you have stolen?' laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really how narrow had been my escape. minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood father's place of business?" understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I "Certainly." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood I approached. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of fishes. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were prepare for the new role I have to play." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to that there was nothing in it, after all." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. take the flies, but not before." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "The best possible." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "And you don't know his address?" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three within hail.' said I. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of leaning back in his chair. and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "'There is a drive, then?' pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she gone. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "What I expected to see." "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was asked with his eyes open. "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies there in twenty minutes." on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue eavesdroppers?' companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his formed some opinion?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the companion quietly. it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with outside." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Well?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and way in." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable