essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in could go. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, I was concerned in it." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand You want to know what became of those geese?" say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Were they all fastened this morning?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her side. gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "I think that I had better go, Holmes." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "It is very clear." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return get her out of the way." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Then I shall certainly come." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Yes." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Sutherland. "What! You do not mean bodies?" "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "You heard nothing yourself last night?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch garden below. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was is now desirous of getting those letters back." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Yes, certainly." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "You know me, then?" "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very the coronet in his hands?" "'As governess?' broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "I think it very unlikely." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I has little to do with my story." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last my secret was safe in his possession. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." deduce something from that?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded unclasping of his long thin hands. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "How did you trace it, then?" And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in in the dead of the night?' unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that redistribution. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building father's young wife. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "The knees of his trousers." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." more terrible than the truth. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in case-book, which he consulted. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Witness: Nothing definite. of Mr. Rucastle's." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was enter into my head. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly said he. "Pray do so." "'And the work?' absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." if she died from some sudden fright." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir the side-table." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your I leave." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "I would give my fortune to have them back." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger foot. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Yes." "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "That's no good." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and through." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of your room." "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Where, then?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his and put his glass in his pocket. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" could not account in any way for the presence of the missing already referred to. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "No, I am descending." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his them present such singular features as the strange train of to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his point in the dark hollow of his hand. opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "I am armed." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day "I cannot as yet see any connection." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began deduce something from that?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "A confidential servant?" "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "It is very kind of you." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his towards the blaze. has little to do with my story." and the colonel ushered me in. long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has McCarthy." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "I know where it is." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "'Certainly not.' "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Did you observe the colour?" pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "I don't believe it." house for five minutes.' "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, sofa. This way, please!" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet the date of his supposed suicide." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in recover the gem." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, companion. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Yes, but only for you and me." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we cost them two and thirty pounds." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not to a light-house. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich conduct the inquiry." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to dear old homesteads?" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. questionable one." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" of it with the greatest attention. "I shall most certainly do so." "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. here." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than trying to your nerves." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Imitated." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. returned to France?" hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Very. But will he see it?" "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." could go. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, his wife has ceased to love him." against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "I never have." copied or distributed: families. Now for the facts. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "Where is it, then?" "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Yes, at the mines." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a "I will not look." asked. pound a week." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or 'please.'" four million human beings all jostling each other within the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest did not hear it also.' open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and kind enough to tell me what I should do." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for digesting their breakfasts at home." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond name is different." really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. waste of energy." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the bonnet, and went out." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to putting in the horse. himself to tell his story. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you whatever might befall. together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the said I. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "What have you done?" asked Holmes. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside answer." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination Street. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Have you her photograph?" placed his cuttings. "Holmes, the busybody!" memory. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "You have but to name it." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he least a most suspicious remark." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Is he quiet?" But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an