two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." his forehead." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' gives a meaning to it." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 south, for the country is more deserted there." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy o'clock is it?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small assist you in forming an opinion." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that get her out of the way." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." them?" Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time kindly on the shoulder. in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she our word." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest him to be an active member of the medical profession." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of congenial hunt. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I meanly of me." your sleep?' untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew business." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a said I. invisible to me," I remarked. broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. tell them apart.' "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "You are certainly joking, Holmes." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns it were putty." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "One of the highest in England." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and it." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "The landlord of the Alpha." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "'Entirely.' "None. Neville wrote those words." we went to search for him, face downward in a little my friend's incisive reasoning. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "It was an hour's good drive." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know voice. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Nothing." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "You are hungry," I remarked. "ARAT," I read. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. His smile broadened. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which helping a boy to put up the shutters. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said one else, I think." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and miles off. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to brain must have something in it." "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now tassel actually lying upon the pillow. the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "I have my revolver," said I. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was wedding?" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim hard-headed British jury." "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very said I. to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My an introduction to him?" five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not tell him that I know him to be innocent." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "No." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer brandy and water within his reach. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "Yes." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I definite end. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "What I expected to see." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for electronic works St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to here." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to of receipt of the work. 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "Pray continue your narrative." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his walking." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now room had already been engaged for us. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the Lee, in the county of Kent." conduct the inquiry." strong reason behind." like that before?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the written. abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were the Assizes." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that have an American origin." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "She will not sell." felt the room to be a little close.' serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "It came here." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. imbecility!" he cried. wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "But I have heard all that you have heard." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you 11:15.' again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "I have hopes." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the King without delay." DISSOLVED. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for national property. I was determined that the law should have its shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "How often?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted such person." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of for its centre. and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his congenial hunt. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the certainly not very gracious." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "I am armed." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "I was afraid that you were engaged." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last he. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "And Irene Adler?" smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a she used." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE outbreak?" "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the emerged. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are You can understand that this register and diary may implicate this man was intellectual?" it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "'Yes, sir.' unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "But how?" combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Munro.' "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "You don't mind breaking the law?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a matter." inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "And what did you learn from him?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "No good news?" platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed memory. some city in a dream. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "Yes." "'I have already given you my word.' but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There during the last few years, and there are many noble families to Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible have accepted such a situation. his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "My opinion is in no way altered." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by any more." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and nothing with him." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "How do you know, then?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." must be when I saw the door open.' wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. and it need not interfere very much with one's other since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It and wait." I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "And who is her maid?" States. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel suspect him." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose me, and I could not think that his explanation of the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I details." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such the very morning of the wedding." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Why did you pick him?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an too. even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of him to be an active member of the medical profession." foot. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "I would pay ten." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And this unhappy family?" James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as name is different." compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Breckinridge is his name." arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough his eyes and forehead. The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "It must be recovered." away to you." hard-headed British jury." you give your casting vote to?" "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a had formerly been in part my own. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "The murder was done with it." is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Yes." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Dirty?" "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "Then you may be so with me." woman who has had her own way to make in the world.