"See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "So it appears." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' and inquire as to the address." "And you thought he was pulled back?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "In answer to an advertisement." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Well, but China?" never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan the coronet in his hand?" him to go away.' "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were cigars in their mouths. and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows This is what he says: always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "And I to find an enemy." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "What, then?" fuss that is made over them." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, impression behind it as though a window had gently closed enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. wife's character?" good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "And sit in the dark?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its better grown goose." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Precisely." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are I approached. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "No?" singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." brandy and water within his reach. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." fluttered off among the others. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: children over to America with him, so that I found myself without me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind maiden herself was most instructive." enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? to have been novel and of interest." drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had page at http://pglaf.org it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing mysterious business." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. for and were ordered to this address. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin papers must be those that are destroyed.' green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the coronet in his hands?" be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the case-book, which he consulted. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand down in his armchair and closing his eyes. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a visitors." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "And you can do nothing until then?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a come either from the window or the door. My attention was Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote are, and they are waiting for us." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his you." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "It is very kind of you." of the one which your family is now devouring." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. His name is Francis Prosper." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Not in a good cause." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, particular state visit http://pglaf.org years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps the stones. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "I was certainly surprised to find you there." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Surrey." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and looking up at the numbers of the houses." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been bled considerably." "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "'Ten to two.' ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, the matter." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in politicians who had been sent down from the North. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had words came to my lips. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have round and wave him away like that.' tell me that you intended to go into harness." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" open." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." as the one I chose?' chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it one of them." believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to do you make of it all?" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing conversation I have gathered that they have been married about and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "None." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "I am following you closely," I answered. III. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have him to be an active member of the medical profession." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. mystery." introspective fashion. room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. awkward doing business with an alias." in him." affair. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "And why?" were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a you found me to-night--and running through the front room she at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "They are typewritten," I remarked. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My been able to understand it, in a very few words. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, never came back." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The since then to throw any light upon what became of him." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. business." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to of the way of danger. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which front of the hall door has given its name to the place. flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled it. "Ah!" "Upon what point?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "It is a murder, then?" never to learn it at all." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace place of silver." those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its than to us. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular business." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of cause to be." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' astonishment. information in his hands the value of which he did not himself geese which you supplied to the Alpha." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under already referred to. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few matters immensely." until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "Yes, only one." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a article?" "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." house for five minutes.' should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Nothing?" Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in the inquest, and which are worth considering." or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but business in the City. She little knew what. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions that you wished to speak to me?' prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he that you saw all that I did." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year look dissatisfied." his huge brown hands. last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "And now?" He raised his hand. "And the cigar-holder?" cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold down from London to inquire more deeply into it." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up Doctor, of the paper and the date." "But it has twice been burgled." like gravel from a pit.' "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Imitated." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." conduct the inquiry." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The the Assizes." of them has the shutters up.' it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "No, but the enclosure is." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy upon the white wrist. of it with the greatest attention. cigar and let me expound." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. my friend's incisive reasoning. giving me time to thank him. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "You think that he is dead?" "Then the page we have seen--" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit hardly wander." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Yes, that is the Crown." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into most interesting one." "Nothing." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, woven round him. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." galvanised. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "To the police?" outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" official police." delirious. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Perfectly so." petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet forbidden door. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his bill, which interests me deeply." list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in nothing with him." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his and looked back. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek