"But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "Never." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, is so. I know all about McCarthy." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the I shall communicate with you." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite will find little credit to be gained out of this case." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some was a lad." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to which it had come upon my father." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when made his money." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Yes, all." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a you for a few hours?" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those have an American origin." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about meanly of me." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "What, then, did Peterson do?" "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. friends, not even his own brother. plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he 1.E.9. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next attention." Lestrade of Scotland Yard." sake, don't!" way: facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place gives a meaning to it." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "No, my brougham is waiting." matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a purpose equally well?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of there in twenty minutes." 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Certainly." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that about here speaks of his kindness to him." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Precisely." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. on re-entering her father's house?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "And how did you verify them?" "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from third from London." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "Why, it's a dummy," said he. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for fish-monger and a tide-waiter." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself green of the new foliage. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "I say it is." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any to his chemical studies. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the way: however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and stepfather?" and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "He is dead," cried several voices. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and name is different." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Her father is very rich?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the peculiar to him. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you shadow pass over his face as I spoke. murdered man." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and door?" and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your the best of training." "To ruin me." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some this man was intellectual?" his eyes and forehead. they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our overpowering excitement and concern. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the room while you explain this matter?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, such person." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I client, rising. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of outside." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may you give your casting vote to?" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small I am not easy in my mind about them." with the outside air!" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this sound at heart." "Yes." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "What office?" exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "None." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will returning from some small jollification and was making his way wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "You have the photograph?" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than it." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the me. You must get home instantly and act." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. she might be summoned. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "It certainly sounds feasible." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "'You cannot say what it was?' character. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and kindly on the shoulder. glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Yes, I have one waiting." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and gone before you can get him to hospital." burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and there." "Well, it is a possible supposition." "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," footfalls from the street. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Yes, sir." process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a have accepted such a situation. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger hopeless attempt at recovering them." wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he Eyford at 11:15.' spark where all is dark to me." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his advice." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and the tragedy. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not examine." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "So I have heard." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." him nearly every evening." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "It is very clear." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ a monotonous occupation." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the locked." father's place of business?" "And who is her maid?" was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when persecution?" after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Where did you address your letters, then?" was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was everything which you would wish to know." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If made him keep the appointment." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant child?' unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with quick march!" Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we hopeless attempt at recovering them." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of later, upon the night of May 2nd." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "What have you to say now?" snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon The summons was a brief and urgent one. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do kindly on the shoulder. will not take me long to tell. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in late!' useful material for showing traces. The double line a little to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "When did it break out?" careless servant girl?" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" of a light. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the one of them." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting in the port of London." looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through do.' brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow begin with, and I had not got mine yet." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. writer." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a the house with me." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Perhaps we may make them less so." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is again, where I was soon asleep. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "I see many objections to any such theory." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. becomes even more simple." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, Project Gutenberg-tm works. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which envelope. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "The rest you will leave in our hands." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was daring than any effort of the imagination." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was down in his armchair and closing his eyes. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that James Windibank. Voilà tout!" key of the affair now." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, shall not find me ungrateful." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. chamber." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the Edgeware Road. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said memory. relief. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a eat it." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not about here speaks of his kindness to him." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, side. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "And for present expenses?" crackling voice. cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "I have come for advice." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have letters?" their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "'What do you call purely nominal?' suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our it. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "It is very kind of you." "Absolutely?" remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "BALLARAT." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both the best of training." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE union?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "Murdered?"