compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the nights." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "I have hopes." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to his eyes and forehead. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" particular state visit http://pglaf.org seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Then, as to money?" "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly chambers. his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "No." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered too. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "And I say east," said my patient. his eyes and forehead. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Holmes' thin, eager face. by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some said he, "my real name is James Ryder." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There you." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their skylight. "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and persecution?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "And the murderer?" said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See unprecedented a position." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Well, but China?" the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my whether it answered to the description of any of their "'And the work?' my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he you." her also." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Not I." to miss it." "Very truly yours, Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "I shall most certainly do so." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Your presence might be invaluable." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera papers on the sundial.'" "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but bill, which interests me deeply." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "'What are you doing there?' he asked. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated passage and a tap at the door. you." upon a handsome competence. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they of receipt of the work. "Where did he live, then?" "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "Eh? What was that?" "My stepfather's business papers." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, written. even of instruction." "By no means." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Did your wife hear all this?" "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' knowledge of the world." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly if she died from some sudden fright." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I don't say that. Perhaps." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a tell me that you intended to go into harness." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well read over the extraordinary announcement. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Not in the least." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain too. indeed which he could not unravel. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the night.' said he. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." appeal." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its instincts rose up against that laugh. not as remarkable as your advertisement." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "And how have you succeeded?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running ordinary clothes on?" "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a said he. which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Then I can wait in the next room." "Dark enough and sinister enough." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "Nothing?" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light said I. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards even of instruction." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's rat could hardly pass through." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he three of the beryls in it, was missing. "'It is locked up,' I answered. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Not particularly." someone who had been in Australia." Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "And you don't know his address?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "But not more so than I to find you." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into the so-precious time, but come!' playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front learned something! Where are the gems?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Well?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that said he at last. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a bearing upon the case." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Very much so." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed you." "I cannot say that I have." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "Yes." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the a few minutes he said that it would be all right. call for it in person on Monday morning.' "She walked into the breakfast-room." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have third from London." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an time." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had your most interesting statement." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all you came in." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again yet." admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Precisely." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "I will get her to show me." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before conversation I have gathered that they have been married about between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. laugh and put his lips to my ear. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "And you thought he was pulled back?" managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the never to learn it at all." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. bears upon the case?" despair." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Not particularly." "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully presented more singular features than that which was associated followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out as he remarks, very much against the son." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "But you were on a friendly footing?" "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient of Mr. Rucastle's." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses answer." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "By no means." or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner without a word or a look. "I am armed." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." wanted for ourselves." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "But to whom?" heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have as he folded up the epistle. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." someone who had been in Australia." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact placed his cuttings. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a American. Then who could this American be, and why should he web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Not particularly." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Holmes' room. interests were the same as his." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that plantation.' "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "Pray do so." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Witness: It was. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "I cannot tell." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of