threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal such person." should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. upon the shelf for the interim." the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, rose-bushes. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings someone who had been in Australia." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Never." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Absolutely?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. families. Now for the facts. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Tired-looking or fresh?" invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Where, then?" indeed happy." have accepted such a situation. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the his eyes and forehead. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than village inn over there?" "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Entirely." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "A confidential servant?" can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a she used." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to through." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "'Yes, sir.' about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the bottom.' as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in is four-and-twenty." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "I never have." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the retorted upon me, and I on you." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to been shamefully used." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before trying to your nerves." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy unprofitable." me have 200 pounds?' You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him never to learn it at all." such attractions and accomplishments?' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "Then I am your man." "Pray let us have it, for all that." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "Precisely." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, against a man in the prime of life?" "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get shall use the carriage to-night." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "But you would not advise me to refuse?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in Heh?' pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better very peculiar words of the dying woman?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had Edgeware Road. He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to pity, because in other respects you would really have done very many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "In the cells." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram absolutely follow my advice in every respect." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us information in his hands the value of which he did not himself part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "None." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so sneer upon his pale face. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me so far?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place once more on the important position which you have been fortunate house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. house for five minutes.' probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the them?" all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "'Not at all. I only doubt--' his knees, staring into the fire. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The now. It seems that there had been some informality about their We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "My dear Holmes!" a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" not within a twentieth part of the market price." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I cup of tea. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, you." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the sound at heart." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "And now?" I asked. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but of it with the greatest attention. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "How can you tell that?" We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. copied or distributed: reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is and put his glass in his pocket. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried your room." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they will he say when he returns?" empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'Which dealer's?' "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. door?" "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the most important business. It is probable that he will be away all and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "It certainly sounds feasible." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn anything to do with the matter?" also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "I fear not." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we again before evening." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive back into the street. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get strode off upon his way. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "And how in the world did you find them?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in drove away. rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which interest. They are important, you understand, without being finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to fasten all the windows?" about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must roused himself from his reverie. depend upon my doing so.' wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a singular points about the case. What did the police think of the is a common subject for conversation. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "But who is he?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I ourselves in the office." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "The decline of his fortunes, then?" the child." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The rooms." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, congenial hunt. less than 26s. 4d. what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully whole matter to your consideration." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you to his chemical studies. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "No." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Imitated." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "'Then let me do so?' "'Then let me do so?' "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "Did he not advertise?" throat." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a leave you to your papers for a little." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "How many? I don't know." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed questionable one." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the chance." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from digesting their breakfasts at home." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough what I may call a really hard day's work." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and villagers almost as much as their master. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "What can you not understand?" sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "But of what society?" "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, used to be." him. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is certainly do as you advise." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "You are all wrong." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a you." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." him." do." your only hope of safety." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood the night.' "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." upon the white wrist. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what been with you?" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ weigh very heavily upon my conscience." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon Watson," he said cordially. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project in a friendly supper." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again is now desirous of getting those letters back." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her look dissatisfied." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the child." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it pressing in one house as in another. quick march!" side. "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "I should like to see him very much." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "I will do it." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Nothing." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" as he remarks, very much against the son." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. gigantic client. "Yes, from Horsham." "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "Yes, at the mines." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know dear old homesteads?" the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was vanished into the darkness. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work down in his armchair and closing his eyes. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then you." given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it letters?" Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself garden below. with the outside air!" there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "It is possible." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found made his money." "I have a cab outside." aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by own family. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" the roots. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." possible that we could bring him back to her? bill, which interests me deeply." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my populous neighbourhood." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "One of his hands." Miss Holder?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and burst out into a roar of laughter. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever geese which you supplied to the Alpha." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for too. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during