you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a looking up at the numbers of the houses." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the to miss it." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered washing it down with a long draught of water. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my might help us?" to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots observed. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every to tell." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "How often?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "None." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "A greater distance to travel." "Married! When?" events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" papers." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "It is true that I have been generally successful." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he was feeling which was the fattest.' "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the golden eyeglasses. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have towards the blaze. "Pray let us have it, for all that." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "One horse?" interjected Holmes. sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. call it cruel." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and threw himself down with his face to the pillow. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which future lives." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "One of his hands." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." new duties?' And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and advice." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, presume?" A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre relief. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the night.' had picked up in the wood. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "What shall I do?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him present strange and interesting features that it is no easy one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Pray continue your narrative." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Yesterday." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old and capable of preserving a secret.' she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "It certainly sounds feasible." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have acquaintance?" judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished now. It seems that there had been some informality about their the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "I cannot as yet see any connection." until night should bring an explanation. clang of the bell. returning from some small jollification and was making his way and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who here." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, weighed down with some great anxiety. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which purpose of examination. singular points about the case. What did the police think of the is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Precisely." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three forecastle of an emigrant ship. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband without a word or a look. stalked out of the room. the bottom.' a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion place of silver." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by went to the Alpha were town bred." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its his wife has ceased to love him." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of absolutely follow my advice in every respect." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "And for present expenses?" "What will you do, then?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better miles off. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "It is his hat." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low be.' reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty night.' said he. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. events, Mr. Windibank!" should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' lost his Christmas dinner." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of is four-and-twenty." "My dear Holmes!" the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "'There is a drive, then?' before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "In answer to an advertisement." recover the gem." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions DAMAGE. investigation." leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "But you were on a friendly footing?" been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box four million human beings all jostling each other within the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about golden eyeglasses. matter." "From his hat?" "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid crime." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project his face. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I nice household for a young lady." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "What then?" been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" charged with?" "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a forehead. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "And you can do nothing until then?" was a perfect sample of the class. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to whether it answered to the description of any of their "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "'And the work?' "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "I cannot tell." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" together. "I say that I have solved it." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey question," said Holmes, smiling. your bag." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the fatally injured? Count Von Kramm." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "It surprised me." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Dirty?" "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Then he might have called to you?" wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "That is it on the dressing-table." "I know where it is." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them even so self-evident a thing as that." "I was mad--insane." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "That is possible." beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my article?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "But how could you guess what the motive was?" many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' them present such singular features as the strange train of Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "'Yes, sir.' "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "You think that he is dead?" Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Chief Executive and Director country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by from the brougham. "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about not come at once?" Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Here?" of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "You did not overhear what they said?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "It is to him that this trophy belongs." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been 'please.'" fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." fluttered off among the others. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and that before taking the final step I should like to submit the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "My stepfather's business papers." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "My dear Holmes!" "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Which surely he restored to their owner?" that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, heavily into it. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. more terrible than the truth. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they completely overtopped every other consideration that we both of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "That sounds a little paradoxical." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "Dr. Becher's." written. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we just called myself is not exactly my own." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our figure." fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, towards the blaze. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered of a light. "Only as much as we can deduce." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his infinite languor in his face. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and fatally injured? been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" the inquest, and which are worth considering." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is again." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply unprofitable." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "'Is purely nominal.' borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; the coronet in his hands?" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "You think so, too?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "That is not always so easy." suspect him." really the only notable feature about the thing." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, forebodings. appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "The vanishing of the lady." 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "I think that I had better go, Holmes." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote not fit the lock." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "I see many objections to any such theory." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until trifles." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, paper in the air. really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His closely." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." a room. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens made his money." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two indeed which he could not unravel. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes mysterious business." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went his wife has ceased to love him." they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his weapon." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our appointment with me for six o'clock?" out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found the side-table." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" there was no need for father to know." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new papers diligently of late, have you not?" congenial hunt. "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt gives a meaning to it." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future little trying to do so much typewriting?" colour had been driven from his face. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may