in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are you want, then?' address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Sutherland. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "It is solved." giving me time to thank him. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an wanted for ourselves." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, in this way: knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "'Oh, no.' "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "It missed him, then?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was highly," said Holmes. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy said I. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes said he. making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his any more." rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "If I can be of use." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "I will get her to show me." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had carried out of court." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know have had none more fantastic than this." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court examination of the premises, but without finding anything which social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous has little to do with my story." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. photograph a cabinet?" lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, sake, don't!" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in heavy and sharp instrument." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I appeal." is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to than to us. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "It came here." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about presume?" received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and ventilator." the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? me what he had done with the three missing stones. "I came to find a friend." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up Watson," he said cordially. coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Always." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our door?" window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock man. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of it. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock more terrible than the truth. parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "'Then let me do so?' aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I she to prove their authenticity?" "Was he the only applicant?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by Munro.' rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a definite end. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "Have you it here?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, husband's writing, madam." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "What will you do, then?" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." himself in a perplexing position. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he get the tickets." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "You did not overhear what they said?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well relief. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "By no means." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "And who is her maid?" man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "It is no ordinary one." Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "We were both in the photograph." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. http://gutenberg.net/license). "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which habit of advancing money.' the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. man. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "Do you go out much in society?" train.' knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her this remarkable episode. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "That is it on the dressing-table." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light and capable of preserving a secret.' graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "And I say east," said my patient. my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." in the dead of the night?' Sutherland?" you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate way: "Ten will be early enough." power." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed whether it answered to the description of any of their obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector shag which I had seen upon the previous night. I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police sufficient punishment." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Then I can wait in the next room." http://gutenberg.net/license). fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a whole matter to your consideration." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would retorted upon me, and I on you." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Breckinridge is his name." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a important." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" away in different directions, and I went off to make my own many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have fatally injured? You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring weapon." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "He said that you could solve anything." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, there has been an enclosure here!" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "It came here." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "I have a cab outside." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Game for a morning drive?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. like gravel from a pit.' yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Entirely." Where does the thing come from?' "'You cannot say what it was?' charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "I am sure." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you newspaper selections." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "You think that he is dead?" "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that sufficient punishment." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful and it need not interfere very much with one's other my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking your co-operation." hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "Breckinridge is his name." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I the Red-headed League." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was that he has suffered." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Why did you pick him?" drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to shoulder; "he's all right." skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look know all about it," he snarled. of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, becomes even more simple." society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "No." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, least a most suspicious remark." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the annoyance, but no jest. can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, business at Coburg Square is serious." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King like gravel from a pit.' information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of rose-bushes. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Deserted you?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the with her." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of miles off. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have that there was nothing in it, after all." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "My dear Holmes!" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in down. the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project charge against him will break down." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason attention." "The landlord of the Alpha." "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap place no limit on the sum I may draw." matter over." "No sign of it?" St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "It was an hour's good drive." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can this unhappy family?" hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, strong and stiff." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "Very. But will he see it?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a bonnet, and went out." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet