which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "How on earth--" with you alone." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for his huge brown hands. learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "'How far from the body?' "No. His orders were to stay in the house." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very father's place of business?" Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Dark enough and sinister enough." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the already referred to. a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "I beg pardon." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Not I." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" the tragedy. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Then he might have called to you?" maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my was keenly on my guard against him. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he there in twenty minutes." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "She walked into the breakfast-room." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, paper in the air. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned Lee, in the county of Kent." there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. man. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "What do you make of that, Watson?" to some other building. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek ashen face. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "None." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, was once confined in the cab my mission was practically would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP dates and names. suggested at once that there must be a communication between the matter." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "To ruin me." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "Dr. Becher's." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding be.' Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be face and glided from the room. "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of my special province." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Why did you pick him?" such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's at my remark. and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup as he folded up the epistle. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are hereditary King of Bohemia." "But what will you do?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents or in danger--" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" acquaintance?" "I warn you that they are very incomplete." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, as he remarks, very much against the son." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "I am all attention, madam." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. into the room. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "My private note-paper." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish children over to America with him, so that I found myself without yet." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, in darkness. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "What shall I do?" wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, that the gas is not laid on in his house?" moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it late." see me here to avoid scandal." unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "'Yes, I promise.' hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "And who is her maid?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "'Why that?' I asks. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we back alive. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. even of instruction." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are sake, don't!" "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every matter." deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Entirely." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. that you wished to speak to me?' Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my bonnet, and went out." pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever more terrible than the truth. chance at all." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not joking. while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from matter." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as where Mr. Fordham shows you.' fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "What then?" have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, purpose equally well?" outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what McCarthy." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then or other trace. But how on earth--" for its centre. Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of about. "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "ARAT," I read. interest. They are important, you understand, without being thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "How about poison?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining foresight and the moral retrogression?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are narrative." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for the coronet in his hands?" suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his strange features which were associated with the two crimes which in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't room had already been engaged for us. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from signal between you and your father? state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving the very morning of the wedding." outside." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the that I can to serve you." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my the bottom.' America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "Very truly yours, think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" Again Holmes raved in the air. Have you good authority for what you say?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his October 9, 1890. "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "That's no good." dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said stepfather?" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "It goes to the housekeeper's room." Project Gutenberg-tm works. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Yes, at the mines." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept assist you in forming an opinion." bled considerably." "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "None." would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You and effective." "How many? I don't know." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and desk. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but You want to know what became of those geese?" determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I the coronet at all injured?" was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way more terrible than the truth. something of him before." going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful breakfast?" back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he them, and came down just as you departed. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "And the cigar-holder?" without a word or a look. waste of energy." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open you came in." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "'Not at all. I only doubt--' in a friendly supper." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce the very letters. But what is this written above them?' telegram would bring me down to your help." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him know all about it," he snarled. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Yes, the wine-cellar." wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "It is very clear." not as remarkable as your advertisement." room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he question. feature." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a imbecility!" he cried. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from brandy and water within his reach. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea have not had my rubber." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece politicians who had been sent down from the North. vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the may never be exposed to such a temptation." had died away into the silence from which it rose. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Then I can wait in the next room." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we redistribution. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in that I may have something better before very many minutes are somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "Precisely so. But how--" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "And how did you find out?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we the driver. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Pray continue your narrative." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "Yes, the wine-cellar." from the brougham. But Holmes shook his head gravely. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, chance at all." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather the Assizes." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "9th. McCauley cleared. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed weigh very heavily upon my conscience." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. emerged. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his enter into my head. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party away to you." "'Certainly not.' His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the house for five minutes.' seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings your bag." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number window when the police appeared." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "Well, but China?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some