to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case present." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual empty. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with skylight. which our visitor detailed to us. the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns fled together." "Well." streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. events than those which have happened in my own family." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his bore every mark of being an average commonplace British I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for to tell." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of closely." "It is no ordinary one." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Why did you pick him?" of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him there has been an enclosure here!" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do four million human beings all jostling each other within the "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to ways of our fellow-men." "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an and wait." her also." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face him!" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Will you go?" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. your most interesting statement." "Nothing?" is," said he presently: such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Why serious?" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in only touch the interest." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the asked. and all of them with the keenest interest. giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. you." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? there has been an enclosure here!" see me here to avoid scandal." animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who weighed down with some great anxiety. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled less than 26s. 4d. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "Yes, there are nearly always some there." fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my forbidden door. "My dear Holmes!" during that time.' present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the over here." "Not social, then?" his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and comes from the middle window." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. as this. Pray let me have the details." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking and have this put in the evening papers." mystery." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back upon an income of about 60 pounds." until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less round with crates and massive boxes. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and colonel looking down at me. present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." Gutenberg-tm License. "Was he the only applicant?" self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. happened." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up from the brougham. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not grasp, he hurried from the room. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "You have compromised yourself seriously." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Eh? What was that?" "I will get her to show me." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main woman." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No breakfast?" frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in skylight. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some crackling voice. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he one of them." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Oh, yes, easily." Holmes' thin, eager face. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I system of imprisonment?" There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank late." "No." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Not in a good cause." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece colour had been driven from his face. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the morning." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. have established a very serious case against the son of the complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the the stones. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. were new raised from a basin. Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still fact, we may call it conclusive." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up crime. then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two matter." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Were they all fastened this morning?" to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "In what way?" asked Holmes. this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took writer." "But I have heard all that you have heard." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat following enigmatical notices: jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now spare." details." chair. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "The gentleman I describe." have had none more fantastic than this." "I should be immensely obliged to you." the little opening for the ventilator is." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "You horrify me." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Seven!" I answered. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "And I." in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "None. Neville wrote those words." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "I think it very unlikely." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "What do you make of that, Watson?" creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and me have 200 pounds?' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "And how in the world did you find them?" "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to himself. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "That sounds a little paradoxical." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Then you may entirely rely on me." was keenly on my guard against him. "She told me to ask you." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock out." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" to a light-house. Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "And for present expenses?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man wedding?" way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give drove away. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable in him." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "Indeed! Whose, then?" look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had followed. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in your own bird, so if you wish--" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a hardly wander." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's in the dead of the night?' His name is Francis Prosper." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Thank you. Pray proceed." "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, feature." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must taking in every detail of the apartment. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst the dangers which encompass me." "What are they?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of have I gained?" that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." acted in my house last night?" true." the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "My dear Holmes!" not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in situation." his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Was your sister dressed?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "If so, much may have happened between." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "Very well, sir. And this stone?" marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. before, for it was considerably after midnight. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "Then I do not see the point." and put his glass in his pocket. round with crates and massive boxes. "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "'And what salary do you ask?' "'Oh, no.' "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "What then?" "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "'I am sure that I do not know.' and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest