like that before?" family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or sound at heart." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. corner of the building. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. you?" Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "But she could not love him." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "What!" he roared. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' into the room. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at if I call to-morrow?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. mystery." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. at once, for I have only half an hour." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Stolen." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "Well." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was matters immensely." "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "A call for help, you thought?" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. guilty parties." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not have an American origin." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "What then?" used to be." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the him nearly every evening." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have from the brougham. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. gbnewby@pglaf.org "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of you?' hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I in the hope of finding them." already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would about here speaks of his kindness to him." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My individual and becomes the badge of a society." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "I should like to see him very much." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from our word." speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "I am following you closely," I answered. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of bore every mark of being an average commonplace British greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you strength of mind to control. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed woman." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was late." the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all 1.F. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, impression behind it as though a window had gently closed flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between an introduction to him?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety This is what he says: "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would His smile broadened. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have ordinary clothes on?" villagers almost as much as their master. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and views." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is dear old homesteads?" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what happened." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently John Swain, of St. Augustine. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "'Then let me do so?' triumphant cloud from his cigarette. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when excitement. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but my former friend and companion. "Murdered?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just amused." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "You have a clue?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. question. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "By no means." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And views." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same during which he might have communicated with his friend the all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight taking in every detail of the apartment. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness passage and a tap at the door. asked. smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "What I expected to see." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "You have carte blanche." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, case-book, which he consulted. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "That you are never beaten." "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. the dangers which encompass me." was a loud and authoritative tap. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Certainly." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, all?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with to Leatherhead. words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could habit of advancing money.' "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "I cannot imagine." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of there were one or two details which were new to me. But the south, for the country is more deserted there." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "I cannot tell." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again head. So long, then!" at home. leaning back in his chair. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "So I have heard." "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "If I can be of use." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips Holmes' room. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "You horrify me!" shoulder; "he's all right." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned are, and they are waiting for us." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom depend upon your compliance." return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out hair?' had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "In the cells." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his made his money." the tragedy. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about any little problem which you may submit to me." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most despair." least a most suspicious remark." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "But it has twice been burgled." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "You will not go there first?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "Not in the least." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary himself to hunt down. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she was keenly on my guard against him. wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to the house with me." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come distance from the station, and there we found the young lady must compliment you." instituted." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "'Yes, sir.' "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in that you saw all that I did." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left I leave." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which God! What an exposure! What can I do?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." I shall communicate with you." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "It is possible." "It's nothing of the kind." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us intimate personal affairs in this public manner." have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Ten will be early enough." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "I see no marks." Doctor, of the paper and the date." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out fishes. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "In San Francisco, a year ago." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Stoke Moran?" said he. formed some opinion?" Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy cause to be." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Yes." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Nothing." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. one else, I think." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent of campaign. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are that he will be back before evening." conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they felt the room to be a little close.' "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would the Red-headed League." "'What, the red-headed man?' We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "What will you do, then?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can horse could go." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "It's nothing of the kind." least a most suspicious remark." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I look upon these things in a different way." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "Yes, it was twisted." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "It was an hour's good drive." "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a off." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see charged with?" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front to miss it." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." was a perfect sample of the class. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "My stepfather's business papers." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his and have this put in the evening papers." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her to where he stood hid behind the curtain. from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "Stoke Moran?" said he.