is so. I know all about McCarthy." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly once more to my work. "I see no marks." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any the salesman. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was fait accompli?" criminal. We have already had experience of such." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, copied or distributed: "About a month then." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Sholtos." touch that coronet?' it right.' his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." returning from some small jollification and was making his way a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the weary and pale-looking. hands. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." so far?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when face and glided from the room. golden eyeglasses. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "Not social, then?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "Will you go?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he if she died from some sudden fright." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. and have this put in the evening papers." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in weapon." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there purpose of examination. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small From what you have told me I think that it is possible that generous with you in money matters.' little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' their singular warning or token before them when starting upon have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no in darkness. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "An accident, I presume?" "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his present." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, clanging. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "Perhaps we may make them less so." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of less than 26s. 4d. member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to intrusion of other matters." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then photograph?" his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Nothing?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Perfectly so." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "One horse?" interjected Holmes. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "I am about to be married." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of but preventing her from injuring another. 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish photograph a cabinet?" "I have hopes." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and straighten it?" man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt and your relations to her." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of you do it in twenty minutes!' The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they have been better. It is all right." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked morning." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that good for you to do.' "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Here?" and effective." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "My photograph." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "I say it is." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. nothing of it?" "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between woman who has had her own way to make in the world. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He question. "Will you bet, then?" ourselves in the office." and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of think that any burglar could have done. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a flock.' At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "There is the writing." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating you?" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you been anything against him. He had for years been known as a make me his representative both with the servants and with the Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will direction." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed as this. Pray let me have the details." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "I have hopes." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still constraint." breakfast." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: Holmes' room. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "'I have already given you my word.' "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his of." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with business came to an end." things are very often connected not with the larger but with the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with goes." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "I guessed as much." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an to change my dress. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after question," said Holmes, smiling. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those guilty one." "But she will refuse." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "And how did he make his money?" about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Nothing?" "A confidential servant?" it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll few hundred pounds.' heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by I am not easy in my mind about them." "In answer to an advertisement." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have occupations.' sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no any." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "'What are you doing there?' he asked. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "No." "I say that I have solved it." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on danger is over." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and call for it in person on Monday morning.' an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. that and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that to me. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which arrangements." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in of your young ladies.' not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing get the tickets." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the train.' throat." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "No." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." towards the blaze. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day you." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." introspective fashion. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Where to?" he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to away into the river." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous in my life." joking. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Two days later this same performance was gone through under shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "What, then?" but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must as he folded up the epistle. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry sound at heart." thin legs towards the fire. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five the so-precious time, but come!' What do you deduce from it?" time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "What is it, then--a fire?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "She showed me, as I told you she would." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its had a long day." little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Not yet." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Upon what point?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we nonsense.' "Was there a secret marriage?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "So I have heard." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Where did he live, then?" to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream but preventing her from injuring another. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both the inquest, and which are worth considering." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "No, but the enclosure is." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & pressing in one house as in another. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in of the one which your family is now devouring." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "'I have heard so.' "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard bonnet, and went out." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "When did it break out?" both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "You have but to name it." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining salesman. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "How did you trace it, then?" dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by know all about it," he snarled. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an had formerly been in part my own. to you." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. purpose of examination. "But you can know nothing of this?" "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "He said too much." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'Is purely nominal.' "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a unkempt, staring out at me. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "But to whom?" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from he died? that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in invisible to me," I remarked. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may you do it in twenty minutes!' drawing your inferences." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. leaning back in his chair. affair. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "'Yes, sir.' As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Certainly." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you opened the door, and slipped through. here and I will read it to you: error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the clanging. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "On the contrary, this is the right side." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of