the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we trifles." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "My dear Holmes!" their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, was it brought him the coronet? undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "And your mother is alive?" sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to gone. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have something of him before." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at mystery." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a putting in the horse. Pool. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Stoke Moran?" said he. charge against him will break down." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That humiliation." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be cheerful." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "Yes. He waved his hands." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six interested in these little problems, and since you are good already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until a room. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was call you and give you the chance." aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her experiences." "The Cedars?" "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of absolutely follow my advice in every respect." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "That is also quite modern," said the lady. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and characteristics, but those are the more obvious." have got?" upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Then you may be so with me." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet was it brought him the coronet? subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the observed. "No, thank goodness, she did not." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have better grown goose." once more to my work. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one Foundation to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "Ha! you find it so?" vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the held up the lantern and gazed about him. "He disappeared so suddenly." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I held the little printed slip to the light. "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque directors have had misgivings upon the subject." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "Yes." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." night.' said he. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable girl said." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE thirty. going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as fait accompli?" value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the trifles." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are upon the sideboard." face and glided from the room. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call During two years I have had three consultations and one small she slowly sank and died without having recovered her deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "'In my own bureau.' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this fact, we may call it conclusive." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, is four-and-twenty." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop Holmes' room. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE I approached. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that have not had my rubber." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Then, how do you know?" hour." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Thank you. Pray proceed." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any the room while you explain this matter?" "You did not overhear what they said?" "Do you know him?" quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. really the only notable feature about the thing." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw compunction about shooting them down." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with you." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in with you?" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, standing smiling on the door-step. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds his face which made him a very different person to the round, young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to without success. At last the little money which I had saved began Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be him, that man would not have given me such complete information train.' to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible there is a decided draught." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for round and wave him away like that.' am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that address. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, the loss of it. had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a weapon." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her Holmes." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "In what way?" asked Holmes. conduct the inquiry." "In heaven's name, what for?" Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. third from London." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A whereabouts. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, of note-paper. It read in this fashion: brandy and water within his reach. "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let fashion which was peculiar to him. introspective fashion. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to relief. Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been what these perils are?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and useful material for showing traces. The double line a little ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching might have a private word with us. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "He slept on the premises." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "None." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" constraint." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly be. British peeress.'" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife meant." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different weigh very heavily upon my conscience." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a dates and names. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Yes, the wine-cellar." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "VIOLET HUNTER." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I your sleep?' The summons was a brief and urgent one. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the and all of them with the keenest interest. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the in him." edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of like gravel from a pit.' many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all country, and eventually married, without anyone having a had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "To ruin me." income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I quickly through a disagreeable task. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." roused himself from his reverie. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Her father is very rich?" triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "My Mary? Impossible!" myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men My friend smiled. "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year had no one to advise her at such a crisis." his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am society." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to only touch the interest." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and "I have a cab outside." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "But I have heard all that you have heard." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just future lives." written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no must be when I saw the door open.' building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you and the whole place is in a blaze." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no breakfast?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? retorted upon me, and I on you." the nursery. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of of fine shops and stately business premises that they really you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into information in his hands the value of which he did not himself 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a subject to the trademark license, especially commercial upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it without a word or a look. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the matter?" dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "The King of Scandinavia." relief. "Nothing?" rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got him nearly every evening." a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, him nearly every evening." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a stalked out of the room. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Here?" "One of his hands." bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." the room while you explain this matter?" air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters,