"'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single where Mr. Fordham shows you.' to take care of herself." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his lamp. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial to arrive at through this?" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very door?" 'please.'" Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the Pool. in the dead of the night?' pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still digesting their breakfasts at home." again, where I was soon asleep. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, DAMAGE. leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. bare slabs of marble. thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Well, it is a possible supposition." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Nothing." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. Sholtos." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he writer." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good meanly of me." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is matter over." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed other lovers by making love himself." battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken which are rolled in Rotterdam." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do definite end. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and question," said Holmes, smiling. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and Watson," he said cordially. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal intrusion of other matters." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "No legal papers or certificates?" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, I have it here in my museum." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "His face fell immediately. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and which was all perfectly true. I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his behind me. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "Of Friday, June 19th." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "Witness: I must still refuse. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for my former friend and companion. morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. gives a meaning to it." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his than to us. distance from the station, and there we found the young lady His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It some place of shelter and let the county police know what has trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." to-night." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, grasp, he hurried from the room. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all you." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The But Holmes shook his head gravely. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with to me. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "What will you say?" uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Very. But will he see it?" play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert hair?' hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of it right.' attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an that the gas is not laid on in his house?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on of note-paper. It read in this fashion: fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "What are they?" a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, bachelor.' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave through." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "What! You do not mean bodies?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they "I will, Miss Turner." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their the warnings." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "Absolutely none." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "My own seal." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "And how did you find out?" made his money." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that appeared upon the scene." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "'Certainly,' I answered. large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a back into the street. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "We have tried and failed." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. went to the Alpha were town bred." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Surrey." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." matter." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical you came in." fishes. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Entirely." "And I." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back nonsense.' appeal." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the were new raised from a basin. "I think that it is very probable." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right are, and they are waiting for us." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were bed dies. Does not that strike you?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a one which it was hard to resist. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has exactly what you advise." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "But of what society?" son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an the coronet in his hands?" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a whether it answered to the description of any of their He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland look upon these things in a different way." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I his wife has ceased to love him." "And Miss Sutherland?" confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a views." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their been." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" becomes even more simple." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "You are hungry," I remarked. someone who had been in Australia." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a rat could hardly pass through." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It footfalls from the street. get her out of the way." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Perhaps we may make them less so." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, make me his representative both with the servants and with the spare." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "You have a clue?" was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "Why, it's a dummy," said he. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Holmes, the busybody!" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." young Openshaw's." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what showing my impatience. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible it were putty." Holmes rather sternly. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as soul! here is her carriage at the door." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "It goes to the housekeeper's room." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "I think it very unlikely." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the observed. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the your only hope of safety." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, had formerly been in part my own. "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the "What of the rat, then?" 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his acquaintance?" between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have stammered. wedding?" "'About the same.' down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting kindly on the shoulder. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Your presence might be invaluable." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy read over the extraordinary announcement. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE other, as fresh and trim as possible. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. wedding?" these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Oh, yes, easily." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. instincts rose up against that laugh. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have disappearance of the bride.'" "I shall most certainly do so." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was answered with a sidelong glance. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an closing the door. "And who is her maid?" "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. residence of the great financier. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to it with his own hands." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "9th. McCauley cleared. colonel looking down at me. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Come in!" said he. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Nothing." "What, then?" eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." conceal it?" what is your own theory as to what took place?" peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "I should like to see him very much." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main despaired of." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "By no means." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying nothing with him." best detective that ever lived. Eyford."