sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "I cannot imagine." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, chill to my heart. make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while on re-entering her father's house?" revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, and I shall be with you presently." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week never came back." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The tail." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and promised to bring home. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might himself to tell his story. the address that was given us in the advertisement. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon will he say when he returns?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey hour." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing the inner apartment." like that before?" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain closely." instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "An accident, I presume?" "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. people don't know." But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "It may not come to that," said Holmes. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "He said that you could solve anything." eavesdroppers?' "And from a noble client?" look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too success. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the the dangers which encompass me." woven round him. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Come in!" said Holmes. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "The doctor?" I. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her might have a private word with us. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "My dear Holmes!" "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "'Is purely nominal.' quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is any little problem which you may submit to me." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I as the one I chose?' purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I 11:15.' seem to you to be relevant or not." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man been able to understand it, in a very few words. "What is it?" possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "By no means." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "One of his hands." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I am to be neutral?" cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Come in!" said Holmes. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I hand, madam?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "So I heard. You have him here?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and allusion to a rat. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "No?" round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father ourselves in the office." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature before, for it was considerably after midnight. think that he is innocent?" importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man unprofitable." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "My Mary? Impossible!" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a call it cruel." with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the particular state visit http://pglaf.org "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you morning." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable swore that no one else had been in the front room during the reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no business." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the matter?" horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said character. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are way: "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "What!" he roared. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "But how?" admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was do.' fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's of the efforts of the United States government and of the better myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw in a friendly supper." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and showing my impatience. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "'And what are they worth?' I asked. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "I have my revolver," said I. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, if only as a check to my own memory." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about front of me. the dangers which encompass me." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a me. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "Yes." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. appeal." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It DISSOLVED. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the coronet at all injured?" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' indeed happy." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the Does that suggest anything?" her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "'About the same.' that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was fact, we may call it conclusive." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Thank you. And your address?" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "I should like to see him very much." "By no means." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in figure." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it detained." "Deserted you?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." said I. floor. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. Does that suggest anything?" "Which are?" prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, minor matters until to-morrow." I have it here in my museum." if she died from some sudden fright." admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "You don't mind breaking the law?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me that before taking the final step I should like to submit the cigars in their mouths. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "About a month then." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and way in everything. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "And what did you learn from him?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, better in every way that they should make their position a little Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "'Quite sure, dad.' which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "No more words. Get out!" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should think you a quite exceptional woman." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "Pray be precise as to details," said he. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the coronet in his hand?" from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. to some other building. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and man. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "That's no good." Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See the coronet in his hand?" "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "None." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "None." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, rat could hardly pass through." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: purpose of examination. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, some mystery and the punishment of some crime." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. be sorry for having acted so harshly." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some Henry Baker is a member." said he at last. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a to miss it." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should woman who has had her own way to make in the world. glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This him!" or other trace. But how on earth--" woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "But his left-handedness." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." business in the City. She little knew what. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Where did you address your letters, then?" "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon used to be." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel morning." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the used to be." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will mysterious business." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a when you have done it." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you direction." "Yes." the little opening for the ventilator is." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed existence." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the foresight and the moral retrogression?" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I little trying to do so much typewriting?" way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and a suggestive one." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "Pray do so." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was upon the shelf for the interim." stood on the top of it. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable My friend smiled. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident examination of the premises, but without finding anything which fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "Dark enough and sinister enough." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My forehead. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned a few minutes he said that it would be all right. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "And from a noble client?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it interests were the same as his." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of that, and I came down." "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn answer." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "Dark enough and sinister enough." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who