earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Yes, there are nearly always some there." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." all-comprehensive glances. my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "It is half-past ten now." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very had died away into the silence from which it rose. through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its For additional contact information: cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly gives a meaning to it." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Witness: Nothing definite. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then me. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the narrative." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached it? Did I buy the geese off you?" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Why did you pick him?" from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. to his chemical studies. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. shall use the carriage to-night." "Here?" much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his undoubtedly my uncle's." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell your equipment. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend strength in the others." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would one of them." through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house papers must be those that are destroyed.' "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying speckled band?" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where within hail.' breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining six. Come in!" out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "I have a cab outside." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our was a loud and authoritative tap. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is thirty. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little American. Then who could this American be, and why should he papers on the sundial.'" "Dr. Becher's." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "And why in hopes?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." desk. will he say when he returns?" important." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. about here speaks of his kindness to him." corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a eat it." conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "It was an hour's good drive." "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he mysterious end." "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the devil!" With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "That also I could fathom." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "What then?" work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I again, where I was soon asleep. wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw not, dad?" she asked. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" and shall probably return to London by the evening train." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us you want, then?' during that time.' occupations.' whole matter to your consideration." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no as yours." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Yes." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "You think that he is dead?" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have leaning back in his chair. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, right! Sit down and let us talk it over." in the dead of the night?' perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." tell them apart.' young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Then you may entirely rely on me." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Which are?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had fact, we may call it conclusive." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "And what then?" because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "How on earth--" wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that which it had come upon my father." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I Stoke Moran." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a of campaign. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged business in the City. She little knew what. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "By train from Waterloo." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "My private note-paper." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. for its centre. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may of the way of danger. light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with absorbing." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "'Yes, sir.' "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be who was a member of your goose club." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "I was mad--insane." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Quite so." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about arrested. You then--" worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "Proceed, then." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "Not social, then?" "Of what day?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away ago." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "Have you her photograph?" creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "Here?" Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is rat could hardly pass through." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "You are certainly joking, Holmes." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third was lame." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always from the brougham. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo promised to bring home. ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg about. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during union?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, peculiar to him. "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an room had already been engaged for us. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "But of what society?" appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, It was close upon four before the door opened, and a glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "I promise," said Holmes. lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge which our visitor detailed to us. became a certainty. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "To an end?" by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "'What then?' I asked. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his This is what he says: God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth minor matters until to-morrow." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure his cane at the bell-pull. "Which are?" silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "At half-wages, in fact." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "It is very clear." an introduction to him?" despair." hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "His face fell immediately. "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "I saw her in conversation with her maid." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to the loss of it. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid Have you good authority for what you say?" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "Get out!" said he. confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "May I see it?" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment are, and they are waiting for us." "The knees of his trousers." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he digesting their breakfasts at home." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting do.' "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, three of the beryls in it, was missing. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have singular points about the case. What did the police think of the dramatic, in fact." the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and entirely lost his self-respect." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used distinguish the words: way in everything. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "Nothing." woven round him. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, through." "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "She showed me, as I told you she would." 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "It is possible." written. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of charged with?" suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some back into the street. mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Pray do so." commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window *** START: FULL LICENSE *** once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the voice, changing her seat as requested. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in the loss of it. that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a said Mr. Holder. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but once more to my work. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." is so. I know all about McCarthy." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." when your master had gone out." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. manager. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported suspect him." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that business." "Proceed, then." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "I am sure." I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for arrested. You then--" unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the seem to you to be relevant or not." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "And how did he make his money?" other lovers by making love himself." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "But you were on a friendly footing?" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I and it need not interfere very much with one's other upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I The King stared at him in amazement. "But you can know nothing of this?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Does that suggest anything?" and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler down. "By no means." There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "She showed me, as I told you she would." correct than the official force." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch