"It may not come to that," said Holmes. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who call you and give you the chance." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "I answered that I had not. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Certainly." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Yes." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell had formerly been in part my own. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body gone before you can get him to hospital." ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside name is different." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one the matter?" of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have had died away into the silence from which it rose. evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' of your young ladies.' Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't when you have done it." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "'I have already given you my word.' our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, felt?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "What then?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the was not a bird to be seen there. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress some terrible trap for her." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." beg that you will break it off." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of papers on the sundial.'" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Then what has happened to him?" of them has the shutters up.' "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the you." depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." maiden herself was most instructive." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Breckinridge is his name." Arthur Conan Doyle "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It giving me time to thank him. following enigmatical notices: a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had to tell." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the interests were the same as his." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which his wife has ceased to love him." and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, Street. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "I was afraid that you were engaged." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "You have compromised yourself seriously." yet." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to such attractions and accomplishments?' absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "'Entirely.' to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong house for five minutes.' errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. Sutherland. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he neither fascinating nor artistic." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "My photograph." unprecedented a position." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the that there was nothing in it, after all." round and wave him away like that.' "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the shall use the carriage to-night." world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and photograph a cabinet?" have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources that, and I came down." "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock was shining brightly. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "At the wedding breakfast." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in matter." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. cigars in the box." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "If so, much may have happened between." what is your own theory as to what took place?" marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, side. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return once more for Briony Lodge. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "How do you know, then?" "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you there." could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. during that time.' had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! all?" severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late bedroom door." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "And the cigar-holder?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder six. Come in!" adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the that threaten you." weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your an introduction to him?" drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. in the dead of the night?' leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not tightly behind him. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. outsides of the windows. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought a good hundred miles off by now." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own weighed down with some great anxiety. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry little adventures." commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly said I. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too and the church but not where the lady lived." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six giving me time to thank him. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "One of his hands." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked tassel actually lying upon the pillow. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "By no means." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the noting anything else of interest. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of wedding?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "Why, it's a dummy," said he. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has instituted." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I charged with?" XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET look upon these things in a different way." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Certainly." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we your billet.' the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible get the tickets." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my case-book, which he consulted. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her is now desirous of getting those letters back." me where it went to?" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Two days later this same performance was gone through under to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, The King stared at him in amazement. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "Pray let us have it, for all that." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from photograph?" left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Here?" adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt there has been an enclosure here!" son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his and that he would see to anything that turned up. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope woven round him. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He foresight and the moral retrogression?" knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a photograph a cabinet?" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had at my own good fortune. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. depend upon your compliance." there was no need for father to know." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. whatever might befall. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in opened a pocket-book and took out a note. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It sofa. This way, please!" stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily compunction about shooting them down." photograph a cabinet?" from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "How about poison?" I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "It is a murder, then?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Why serious?" attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend stood on the top of it. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned will find little credit to be gained out of this case." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "My last client of the sort was a king." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. answered with a sidelong glance. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." returning from some small jollification and was making his way closing the door. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her upon a handsome competence. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my the stones. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and guilty one." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open the station." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an his huge brown hands. few hundred pounds.' "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "When did she vanish, then?" "Yes?" my room." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after because she had spent so short a time in this country that she week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "We were both in the photograph." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed ill-usage at the hands of fortune. and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Murdered?" whether it answered to the description of any of their approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us The telegram which we eventually received came late one night For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding