snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet tapping his fingers upon the table. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth hardly wander." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "Married! When?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "'Yes, sir.' 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Young McCarthy must be got off, however." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me unkempt, staring out at me. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was you understand?" inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My key of the affair now." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "But his lameness?" had formerly been in part my own. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you along the entire front of the house, with three long windows my little problems." several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "What, then, did Peterson do?" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon later, upon the night of May 2nd." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I my former friend and companion. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel me." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The shall not find me ungrateful." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Pray be precise as to details," said he. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Yes. He waved his hands." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "The decline of his fortunes, then?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said think that he is innocent?" the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your the date of his supposed suicide." "Where did he live, then?" constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "I never have." "How many? I don't know." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing anything to do with the matter?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel pierced for earrings?" however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "You think so, too?" held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." down. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid always that they were such commands as a lady might with hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be several quiet little villages up there." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business vault. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my the Red-headed League." villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. we went to search for him, face downward in a little Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "And the murderer?" She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend been deceived." brandy and water within his reach. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "You have it, sir, just as it happened." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be Munro.' "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation infinite languor in his face. gone. "Bought." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "I see many objections to any such theory." process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the carriage. It was a chestnut." "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is if she died from some sudden fright." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "None." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "What will you do, then?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I burst out into a roar of laughter. "I am in hopes that she does." immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who meanly of me." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high nice household for a young lady." "Pray do so." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and test if we have an answer to our advertisement." Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Her father is very rich?" was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "In San Francisco, a year ago." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. delighted to hear it," he said. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. gone before you can get him to hospital." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been indeed happy." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not locked. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and arms and began to sob in a high treble key. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "What will you do, then?" maiden herself was most instructive." them?" that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "'Never.' His smile broadened. importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon deduce something from that?" send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and that he will be back before evening." are, I think, all that we need." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the What do you deduce from it?" union?" thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At IS but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "And how?" have established a very serious case against the son of the "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told see a sister of mine apply for." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling case-book, which he consulted. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; shoulder; "he's all right." "And you can do nothing until then?" clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his Surrey." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he congratulate you again." hands. "And what then?" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to walking." to-night." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at before the coroner and the police-court." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "The doctor?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really business." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "It is a murder, then?" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "What, then, did Peterson do?" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "But not more so than I to find you." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." happened." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug him nearly every evening." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is during which he might have communicated with his friend the "She showed me, as I told you she would." of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "Her father is very rich?" "What! You do not mean bodies?" "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of in my life." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." works. named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "How are you getting on?" "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not when your master had gone out." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "And your father? Did you tell him?" hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "9th. McCauley cleared. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, detained." there." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "'What then?' I asked. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Here?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Holmes. Edgeware Road. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a "I will try. What is it?" "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from my former friend and companion. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers delighted to hear it," he said. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he them present such singular features as the strange train of nonsense.' "To ruin me." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "Really! You surprise me." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were and effective." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may way: "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Very. But will he see it?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to flock.' stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it when your master had gone out." He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "I am still in the dark." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I floor. The police have openly confessed that they can at present make my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for purpose of examination. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied upon an income of about 60 pounds." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "So I heard. You have him here?" to you." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now coat-tails." people don't know." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "What! Had he lost his wife?" it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "But your client--" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made seven miles from Eyford Station.' you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you better grown goose." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst followed. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, late." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "At half-wages, in fact." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three nonsense.' society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger there was no need for father to know." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "I shall be delighted." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before of." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she settle down they should do so as near each other as possible.