he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." records." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Yes. He waved his hands." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "It is his hat." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a you do it in twenty minutes!' my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to works. See paragraph 1.E below. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face any little problem which you may submit to me." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his fact, we may call it conclusive." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. cheerful." of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must lamp in his hand. quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Stoke Moran." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the himself. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "I say that I have solved it." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "'What do you call purely nominal?' little adventures." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, thirty. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been your troubles." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but tightly behind him. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "But how?" My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. fashion which was peculiar to him. Again Holmes raved in the air. that I may have something better before very many minutes are has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email desk. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "No, I had a dozen." keep the flames under. who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "My dear Holmes!" a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. to me. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "It is very kind of you." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the garden below. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "But what will you do?" indeed happy." than to us. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. to tell." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of thirty. Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And stepfather?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "The Coroner: What do you mean? since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "It's nothing of the kind." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; there." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for you." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Married! When?" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, help us in this matter." waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own that there was nothing in it, after all." "Always." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets man. I know him from the photograph." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he of a light. my little problems." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Yes, that is the Crown." place, I think that there is good ground to think that the "In answer to an advertisement." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Why serious?" "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question death." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo you?" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" obstinate." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from excitement. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a It was close upon four before the door opened, and a analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "To ruin me." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with whole matter to your consideration." against a man in the prime of life?" "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "Was she in good spirits?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's From what you have told me I think that it is possible that 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have details should find their way into the papers. Inspector the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few will take you up to see the machine.' disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred not as remarkable as your advertisement." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, to his chemical studies. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." to have been novel and of interest." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the following enigmatical notices: "How on earth--" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project that, and I came down." shoulder; "he's all right." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "I came to find a friend." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "No sign of it?" so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a unkempt, staring out at me. all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the inquest, and which are worth considering." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Game for a morning drive?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Certainly." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Witness: I must still refuse. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "Look there!" said he. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "She will not sell." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will your sleep?' willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "Have you it here?" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in them, and came down just as you departed. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Why, what do you mean?" appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the voice, changing her seat as requested. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, the best of training." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, DAMAGE. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some province." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the Where does the thing come from?' informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his enter Dr. Roylott's room." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is note?" sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the to change my dress. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Yes." the roots. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with that I am arrested." his cane at the bell-pull. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, one's self under obligations.' one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in himself in a perplexing position. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" laugh and put his lips to my ear. stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I hour." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the station." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Not in the least." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our whereabouts. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are the very letters. But what is this written above them?' part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" dates and names. was the fact that his father should, according to his account, most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "To ruin me." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and question," said Holmes, smiling. will he say when he returns?" "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. of Fenchurch Street." possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "But how will you look?" "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had out of this horrible affair." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "And that is--" "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we coat-tails." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with it." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have became a certainty. that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and weighed down with some great anxiety. "I shall most certainly do so." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a there were so many in the whole country as were brought together stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, was a loud and authoritative tap. last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." to his chemical studies. "Yes." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the outbreak?" "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold of the efforts of the United States government and of the better an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her was keenly on my guard against him. "Have you it here?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is McCarthy's innocence. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between said he at last. "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "The decline of his fortunes, then?" his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. my secret was safe in his possession. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. and looked back. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, villagers almost as much as their master. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the too. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." and your relations to her." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he was the fact that his father should, according to his account, There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is confronted him. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at held up the lantern and gazed about him. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was disturbance in my wife." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of the tragedy. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "If I can be of use." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time closely." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Stoke Moran." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric mystery may be cleared along those lines." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Then I am your man." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "And how did you verify them?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "But she will refuse." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it chemical work which was so dear to him. "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of