to arrive at through this?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "And I." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "You don't mind breaking the law?" "I think that it is very probable." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." gone before you can get him to hospital." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you a very grave face. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm that there was nothing in it, after all." "'I shall certainly be there.' and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of dear old homesteads?" again, where I was soon asleep. chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary prisoner's face. chance." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person appeal." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one charge against him will break down." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible me. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he and prosperity to your house. Good-night." in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the and your relations to her." "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "It is a murder, then?" dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder manager. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at had picked up in the wood. "What can you not understand?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Nearly eleven." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do new duties?' Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any For additional contact information: solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but compunction about shooting them down." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "I have come for advice." "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "What! a murderous attack?" conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. digesting their breakfasts at home." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock was not a bird to be seen there. "Precisely so. But how--" across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not Edgeware Road. "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "And you thought he was pulled back?" coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son yet." There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "What will you do, then?" gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "What will you do, then?" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the secret." hardly wander." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent orange pips. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, vanished into the darkness. you in your example." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid gone. "Pray let us have it, for all that." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, interested in these little problems, and since you are good empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Your presence might be invaluable." he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him investigation." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her III. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me that, and I came down." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "Then I can wait in the next room." Heh?' indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it troubles have been weighing upon his mind. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no and the colonel ushered me in. upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "No, but the enclosure is." squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. with the outside air!" even of instruction." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Sutherland. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" drove away. "And how have you succeeded?" "'I have already given you my word.' "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I eavesdroppers?' rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second his wife has ceased to love him." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "'Where to?' Street. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" is four-and-twenty." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Dark enough and sinister enough." disturbance in my wife." cigars in the box." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. up this clue while it is still hot." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "I am to be neutral?" furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been trying to your nerves." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "'Certainly not. But why?' deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Of what day?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, pity, because in other respects you would really have done very the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the tell them apart.' "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "ARAT," I read. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he pound a week." man. I know him from the photograph." "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "It is his hat." on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his the stones. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his notes," he said. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "No. His orders were to stay in the house." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some closing the door. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm drawing your inferences." character. drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook new duties?' all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw woman who has had her own way to make in the world. and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. your co-operation." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would morning." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, upon the sideboard." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "Nothing." hurried by. away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A was not a bird to be seen there. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your present." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as been shamefully used." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that examination of the premises, but without finding anything which very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and and a shock of very red hair. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking could not account in any way for the presence of the missing trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in whatever might befall. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Were they all fastened this morning?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Why? What do you mean?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come the station." hour." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. of them has the shutters up.' the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, father's young wife. vanished into the darkness. stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a McCarthy's innocence. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "He slept on the premises." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "What can it mean?" I gasped. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Pray do so." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" long narrative. quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "It is no ordinary one." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "And why in hopes?" "Very much so." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "None." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over tension within him. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the "But his left-handedness." not personally threatened." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project leaning back in his chair. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "'Is purely nominal.' on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "But to whom?" At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but minor matters until to-morrow." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight stammered. providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. one which it was hard to resist. with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the coat-tails." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "One?" sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Absolutely none." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who empty. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was heavily into it. as he folded up the epistle. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "But how will you look?" "One horse?" interjected Holmes. introspective fashion. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally have got?" my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an photograph?" "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But