"No, my brougham is waiting." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "What have you to say now?" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his strange features which were associated with the two crimes which individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even Dr. Gregory B. Newby never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a constraint." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the chemical work which was so dear to him. I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we strange features which were associated with the two crimes which I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Edgeware Road. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask against a man in the prime of life?" ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Then the page we have seen--" matters immensely." must be when I saw the door open.' "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "'What do you call purely nominal?' sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "He said too much." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed my special province." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs knowledge of the world." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I colour had been driven from his face. shall use the carriage to-night." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "By no means." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich of the vacancies.' cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of unprecedented a position." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is at home. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "Not particularly." her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect there." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, with frightened eyes at his accuser. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "Why? What do you mean?" "Then I do not see the point." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's the coronet in his hand?" and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a be.' drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "But she could not love him." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "But your client--" "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "None." could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Yes." certainly not very gracious." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. humiliation." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. questioning and rather startled gaze. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your fact, we may call it conclusive." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Well." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal meant." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "Yes." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "But you were on a friendly footing?" if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior I. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "Imitated." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average the night.' thin legs towards the fire. and that he would see to anything that turned up. call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "I have seen the police." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the down. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." His smile broadened. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me But Holmes shook his head gravely. with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to You can understand that this register and diary may implicate extraordinary contortions. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "I will do it." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "But we can't all be." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress she slowly sank and died without having recovered her the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long said I. "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, Watson," he said cordially. read over the extraordinary announcement. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? photograph a cabinet?" air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "I cannot tell." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time questionable one." this as likely?" gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing troubles have been weighing upon his mind. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and colour had been driven from his face. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "And the murderer?" appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "It is a murder, then?" person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that that hardly wander." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "But we can't all be." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "You are all wrong." from you?" drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since returning from some small jollification and was making his way besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he other means.' web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I hand, madam?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "I know where it is." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given business came to an end." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and into her hand at the door and which lured her within their walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought heavily into it. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all carried out of court." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which union?" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." woven round him. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had chance." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "Then the page we have seen--" is acting for the best. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got she has been waylaid. There has been no result." Arthur Conan Doyle can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest your bag." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "And why?" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly You want to know what became of those geese?" entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to conceal it?" upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have just called myself is not exactly my own." propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a promised to bring home. head. So long, then!" back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a and wait." fait accompli?" "No, I had a dozen." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, not as remarkable as your advertisement." "What is it, then--a fire?" him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may chemical work which was so dear to him. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "'Never,' said I. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from me, and I could not think that his explanation of the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." respectable self." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very said he at last. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to mystery!" have an American origin." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards shall use the carriage to-night." of them has the shutters up.' "What, then, did Peterson do?" "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything the very morning of the wedding." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Literary Archive Foundation "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." wanted for ourselves." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular must be when I saw the door open.' "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. over his head with a sweet womanly caress. in this note: "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes touch that coronet?' to a more successful conclusion." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her For additional contact information: only touch the interest." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. power." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. so.' daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove had this final quarrel? have accepted such a situation. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my points to suicide?" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to out of this horrible affair." "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Only as much as we can deduce." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Edgeware Road. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Doctor, of the paper and the date." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Not in a good cause." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" is four-and-twenty." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "The gentleman I describe." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about figure." learned something! Where are the gems?" said he. and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I me." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is gentleman's clothes. Arthur Conan Doyle "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do one which it was hard to resist. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive ready to-morrow?' he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "And how did you verify them?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." views." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "My stepfather's business papers." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that