was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Countess of Morcar's?" advice." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Well, it is a possible supposition." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Then I can wait in the next room." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this plantation.' before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely IS Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A beyond words. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That future lives." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his that the gas is not laid on in his house?" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "To an English lawyer named Norton." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "One of the highest in England." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of shall use the carriage to-night." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "What will you say?" "'Where to?' "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have at my own good fortune. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, trifles." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "The landlord of the Alpha." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. learned something! Where are the gems?" scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the children over to America with him, so that I found myself without true." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have both be extremely obliged.' "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. once more. fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of along the entire front of the house, with three long windows see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is in this note: "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "He might." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her placed his cuttings. an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but on in his house." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE arrested. You then--" Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand showing my impatience. villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it you found me to-night--and running through the front room she not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "'Yes, it was gone.' find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my Chief Executive and Director more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "But how will you look?" acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very bled considerably." through." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Certainly." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "It was a confession," I ejaculated. just ask you whether you had heard it.' after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "Not in the least." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "None." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this speckled band?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and upon an income of about 60 pounds." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and other, as fresh and trim as possible. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or she has been waylaid. There has been no result." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the what these perils are?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these the night.' prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which stood on the top of it. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "'About the same.' hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this may have an influence upon European history." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." in a very precise fashion." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." without a word or a look. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "No bad?" Leadenhall Street--and--" any little problem which you may submit to me." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the tell him that I know him to be innocent." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "No." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Yes." stood on the top of it. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a stepfather?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "You'll never persuade me to believe that." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman overpowering excitement and concern. vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out at once, for I have only half an hour." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "I have solved it." "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to IS the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no new duties?' photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with the King without delay." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without the inner apartment." without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "That is not always so easy." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw soul! here is her carriage at the door." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that said he. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H But Holmes shook his head gravely. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "'And the work?' reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened pressing in one house as in another. Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they to-night?" I asked. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety amused." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. beg that you will break it off." "'Certainly not. But why?' round and wave him away like that.' During two years I have had three consultations and one small folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did waste of energy." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "10th. John Swain cleared. "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that that there was nothing in it, after all." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Of what day?" the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed father's young wife. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "No, I think that I'll take it." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to may have an influence upon European history." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive lips." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours "Oh, fresh and glossy." voice, changing her seat as requested. you?' Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "'What do you call purely nominal?' dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the bachelor.' standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "Not I." of note-paper. It read in this fashion: station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "And leave your case unfinished?" people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, distance from the station, and there we found the young lady 1.E.9. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." results." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "My dear Holmes!" "Then I do not see the point." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it a very grave face. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain friends, not even his own brother. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." if only as a check to my own memory." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a yourselves in at night?" was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man back alive. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to information in his hands the value of which he did not himself problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the tied." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Which are?" "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "We were both in the photograph." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so occurred." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were individual and becomes the badge of a society." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The recover the gem." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been ashen face. "I am about to be married." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "And your mother is alive?" "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "Come in!" said he. come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "His face fell immediately. me upon any point which I do not make clear." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Yes, it would be as well." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will past. passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "And I to find an enemy." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our swore that no one else had been in the front room during the upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the crackling voice. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I he bowed and left the room without another word. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "No legal papers or certificates?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I time." when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been was a lad." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would lids now and glanced across at his visitor. national property. I was determined that the law should have its "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." beg that you will break it off."