penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were woman who has had her own way to make in the world. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and pierced for earrings?" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and a very grave face. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first back alive. hour?' were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "No?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the sofa. This way, please!" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose villagers almost as much as their master. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this went to the Alpha were town bred." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it that he has suffered." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "I am all attention, madam." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Why did you beat the pavement?" and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as companion. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope forbidden door. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the in one or two places in England?' autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Whose house is it?" ran thus: "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." lips." chambers. and I shall be with you presently." of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will my special province." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is as the one I chose?' death." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "An enemy?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you fatally injured? man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at begun to whiten, even as mine has." this poor creature." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "Murdered?" passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Bought." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will hurried away. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Literary Archive Foundation writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "And how?" inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off the warnings." gone. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying into the bag, and made for the door. if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to mysterious end." if only as a check to my own memory." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "I guessed as much." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared how narrow had been my escape. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "I promise," said Holmes. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would their singular warning or token before them when starting upon THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE fish-monger and a tide-waiter." answered with a sidelong glance. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have becomes even more simple." the station." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, the devil!" putting in the horse. of this gang." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "A client, then?" tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your enough to aid us in our search." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "I answered that I had not. which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "What will you do, then?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make giving me time to thank him. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "My stepfather's business papers." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "She showed me, as I told you she would." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Why serious?" "'Never,' said I. it with his own hands." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you there were one or two details which were new to me. But the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith power." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, stammered. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came joking. comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that that threaten you." you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon digesting their breakfasts at home." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I guilty one." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their with her." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Yes, certainly." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the and no precautions can guard against." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine a room. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "My own seal." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a before, for it was considerably after midnight. in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and never will be, entirely cleared up. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "I think it very unlikely." knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. has little to do with my story." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down golden eyeglasses. it were putty." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned pound a week." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "What is it?" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So crowd. business?" place, I think that there is good ground to think that the this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with one of the states of the Union." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already we went to search for him, face downward in a little moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "'What then?' I asked. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." guilty parties." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass eavesdroppers?' third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Pray do so." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "You have but to name it." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would if I call to-morrow?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. dear old homesteads?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "'In my own bureau.' "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" him!" where we are going." decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a was feeling which was the fattest.' "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said without a word or a look. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the one's self under obligations.' the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "How about poison?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming laugh and put his lips to my ear. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. gone. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a simple cases which are so extremely difficult." astonishment. "It was." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his wife's character?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded clanging. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and a room. Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "I cannot imagine." "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew minor matters until to-morrow." events than those which have happened in my own family." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "BALLARAT." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, Dr. Gregory B. Newby This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, take the flies, but not before." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad in his power. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our friend's singular character. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "But how did you gain them?" "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "Pray tell us what has happened to you." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would the coronet at all injured?" know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Then I can wait in the next room." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out against a man in the prime of life?" "I will do it." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "But what will you do?" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "It looks newer than the other things?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my said he. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of hopeless attempt at recovering them." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "No." so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "And what did you see?" know that the truth is known." "By no means." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that