night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him carried out of court." A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "At what time?" was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before off." "There is the writing." away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time the Friday. Was it to be in church?" The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he you." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" one else, I think." "'Quite sure, dad.' day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "It is very clear." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. so.' Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes quick march!" will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat figure." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Your French gold?" an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in is worth.' There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Yes." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the asked. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but dead, shall be safe with us." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his morning." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. was a loud and authoritative tap. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I his grey eyes. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in to affect your life." "Really! You surprise me." he bowed and left the room without another word. "But you can know nothing of this?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private unclasping of his long thin hands. "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. we went to search for him, face downward in a little "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Leave Paddington by the 11:15." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced new acquaintance to Baker Street. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Here?" extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "No?" made his money." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "I have seen the police." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "Not I." disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner The police have openly confessed that they can at present make from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his me upon any point which I do not make clear." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one relief. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no prove to be little relation between the different incidents of occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "I was mad--insane." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress ashen face. caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely from the brougham. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated there has been an enclosure here!" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Not him." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch other, as fresh and trim as possible. with her." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his have got?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "But of what society?" "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his plantation.' voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire friend's singular character. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and to tell." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth murdered man." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was sentimental considerations in the background which would induce than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the Sholtos." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "My own seal." touch that coronet?' for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House with you?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Never." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out burst out into a roar of laughter. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice miles off. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one touch that coronet?' kindly on the shoulder. bare slabs of marble. are, and they are waiting for us." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself speckled band?" fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few there when the Rucastles went away." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and union?" his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "Pray do so." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel brandy and water within his reach. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "It looks newer than the other things?" strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the questioning and rather startled gaze. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which wall." but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." amused." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Miss Holder?" have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a amused." from you?" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the charged with?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "You have the photograph?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in was a loud and authoritative tap. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden have had none more fantastic than this." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "There are none." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS too. remarked. "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Was the window open?" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, our word." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend seven miles from Eyford Station.' to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the leaning back in his chair. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Yes." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Certainly, madam." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt been deceived." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we that I may have something better before very many minutes are controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' other, as fresh and trim as possible. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "My last client of the sort was a king." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "He slept on the premises." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when tension within him. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "What do you make of that, Watson?" "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "To the police?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis waste of energy." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Nothing?" impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, with the outside air!" "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "I am still in the dark." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "No." other means.' what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "I am to be neutral?" And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "Proceed, then." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "And you thought he was pulled back?" "At half-wages, in fact." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "Well." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "Oh, fresh and glossy." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "This concluded the examination of the witness." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, colonel looking down at me. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing get the tickets." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch matter over." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" happened." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and least a fellow-countryman. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' was used.' of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even of this gang." photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. way in everything. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets