back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us away into the river." never will be, entirely cleared up. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "Your French gold?" "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of lost nothing by them." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by morning." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Only as much as we can deduce." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." dates and names. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes will be renamed. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "If I can be of use." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "In which, sir?" "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Nothing." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate some mystery and the punishment of some crime." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will Munro.' prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Then the page we have seen--" about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Won't it ring?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in persecution?" He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "How often?" in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's second window is the one that I jumped from." his face. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "At half-wages, in fact." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out the dangers which encompass me." "Nothing." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. felt?" combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "By no means." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks he. of." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Have you her photograph?" "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive some mystery and the punishment of some crime." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "Your French gold?" reach." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. sake, don't!" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, she used." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the mysterious end." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in Sutherland?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "Ah, but I was recommended to you." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but I leave." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." speckled band?" not within a twentieth part of the market price." fear." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "To ruin me." it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "But she could not love him." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose bird I ate is country bred." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "My photograph." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "Where, then?" interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Then I am your man." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had recall any case within my experience which looked at the first gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." never will be, entirely cleared up. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge was feeling which was the fattest.' "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "I don't believe it." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. chill to my heart. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "That is easily got." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. I am not easy in my mind about them." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Then what has happened to him?" the bed, and you in that chair." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to province." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and more solid." "VIOLET HUNTER." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was recover the gem." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Breckinridge is his name." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and respectable self." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and as he remarks, very much against the son." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." I nodded to show that I had heard. you in your example." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if to me. "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." felt the room to be a little close.' are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "How many? I don't know." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "Well?" stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "And how did he make his money?" Sutherland?" whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "And the murderer?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his and a shock of very red hair. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a noting anything else of interest. "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Was she in good spirits?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. himself in a perplexing position. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have pictures, libraries, or plate. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always bled considerably." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a is so. I know all about McCarthy." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" him to go away.' than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. money should be paid at once.' enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded standing smiling on the door-step. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. and your relations to her." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, be best to do. God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can American. Then who could this American be, and why should he shoulder. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective points to suicide?" imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained not as remarkable as your advertisement." the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the unprofitable." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward The summons was a brief and urgent one. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set rooms." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their and I shall be with you presently." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "On Monday." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "How many? I don't know." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. said he. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was this truth that in these little records of our cases which you chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was which we had just quitted. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "Pray do so." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a grasp, he hurried from the room. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "A confidential servant?" lost nothing by them." "'I have already given you my word.' practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime photograph a cabinet?" call the police, let the police find what they can.' by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, joking. wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say use an arc-and-compass breastpin." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I your billet.' does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all were new raised from a basin. you?' "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a criminal. We have already had experience of such." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon that I may have something better before very many minutes are We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "No sign of it?" against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" salesman. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "Breckinridge is his name." you." "Pray do so." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil been with you?" written. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Now, then, what's the last entry?" and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be and that he would see to anything that turned up. most interesting one." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce information in his hands the value of which he did not himself instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "By no means." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our writers could invent nothing more crude." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is details should find their way into the papers. Inspector streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "What then?" "The Cedars?" "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "What! You do not mean bodies?" is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was is," said he presently: not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am annoyance, but no jest. congratulate you again." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to them, and came down just as you departed. Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" your most interesting statement." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand the matter?" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was washing it down with a long draught of water. gives a meaning to it." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if