near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and photograph?" outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which more solid." felt?" "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and correct than the official force." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." what I may call a really hard day's work." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "What then?" she to prove their authenticity?" public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. point in the dark hollow of his hand. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit was used.' "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a despaired of." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Won't it ring?" from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be country, and eventually married, without anyone having a Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you Holmes' thin, eager face. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Holmes, the busybody!" certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a than to us. surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. whereabouts. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to The note was undated, and without either signature or address. very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of The note was undated, and without either signature or address. inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "I came to find a friend." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with shaken than I had ever seen him. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Pray do so." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Yes." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for must compliment you." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, Pool. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "Not yet." together. have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have your room." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Perhaps we may make them less so." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed which we had just quitted. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' may have an influence upon European history." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I shaken than I had ever seen him. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Pope's Court, Fleet Street." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom sake, don't!" whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Awake, Watson?" he asked. it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "But what will you do?" Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless said he at last. retorted upon me, and I on you." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly all that?" better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, never will be, entirely cleared up. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Yes, they were peculiar boots." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for tear off another piece?' "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert "What then?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to awaited us upon the table. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed because she had spent so short a time in this country that she and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that The King stared at him in amazement. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the orange pips. skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "No." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "In heaven's name, what for?" 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "It is to him that this trophy belongs." you give your casting vote to?" his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "My stepfather's business papers." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been is worth.' him to go away.' "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "May I see it?" Eyford." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a observed. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "I would pay ten." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only him to be an active member of the medical profession." kindly on the shoulder. remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "I am all attention, madam." you." diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did to miss it." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would noble correspondent could be. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant lamp in his hand. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily hands. through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Yes." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Absolutely?" Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little upon the shelf for the interim." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "No bad?" giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion you, my dear young lady?' gone. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' it." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "'You cannot say what it was?' his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared thin legs towards the fire. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. II. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "It is possible." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "And on what day did he meet his death?" "I was sure that I might rely on you." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." voice, changing her seat as requested. the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "And your father? Did you tell him?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "This concluded the examination of the witness." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my client, rising. bird I ate is country bred." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Pope's Court. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "I don't say that. Perhaps." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this never came back." "No, but the enclosure is." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay a room. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "No, my brougham is waiting." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. was once confined in the cab my mission was practically like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do ready to-morrow?' you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day minor matters until to-morrow." thin legs towards the fire. of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a "Where did you address your letters, then?" and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "I am all attention, madam." "He said that you could solve anything." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there upon the shelf for the interim." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "I beg pardon." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were this man was intellectual?" definite end. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step ourselves in the office." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "On the contrary, this is the right side." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are few hundred pounds.' records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" Literary Archive Foundation "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." October 9, 1890. The events in question occurred in the early days of my on in his house." "Where did he live, then?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "But how could you guess what the motive was?" framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Absolutely?" deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Did your wife hear all this?" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning I. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Thank you. And your address?" he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless ran thus: received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you door?" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment directly by questioning you." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "Then he might have called to you?" "'Where to?' as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to not personally threatened." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "What I expected to see." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; good for you to do.' tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the straightened it out again. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a in a very precise fashion." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Yes." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent giving me time to thank him. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence presume?" "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, made his money." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very present strange and interesting features that it is no easy electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful of campaign. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Imitated." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the suspect him." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic obstinate." XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Certainly." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap,