with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from lips." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' she slowly sank and died without having recovered her head. So long, then!" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "ARAT," I read. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if I approached. "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet pressing in one house as in another. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we prove to be little relation between the different incidents of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting *** START: FULL LICENSE *** as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the chance at all." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, served to weaken the effect. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, this as likely?" I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and were wasted." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "What, then, did Peterson do?" promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a 1.E.9. cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "Entirely." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of have an American origin." "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If fatally injured? papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a closely." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any it right.' wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "'And what salary do you ask?' "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue over with notes and figures. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, had no one to advise her at such a crisis." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At Holmes rather sternly. in the hope of finding them." "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the station." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Serpentine Avenue. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to had formerly been in part my own. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. new duties?' was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a case before our client came into the room." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Certainly, madam." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing companion. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "And the murderer?" his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. you." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found not, dad?" she asked. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." roused himself from his reverie. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you me. You must get home instantly and act." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to weary and pale-looking. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Pray continue your narrative." formed some opinion?" clanging. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Not social, then?" an introduction to him?" what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the without a word or a look. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have before the coroner and the police-court." "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "It is very clear." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It forbidden door. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. straightened it out again. his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "We must have a cab." his face. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord you." colour had been driven from his face. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his heavily into it. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "But I have heard all that you have heard." them present such singular features as the strange train of room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he bearing upon the case." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side signal between you and your father? fact, we may call it conclusive." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a place, I think that there is good ground to think that the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "Absolutely none." got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate appeared upon the scene." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "You have a clue?" shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted weary and pale-looking. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." presented more singular features than that which was associated lost nothing by them." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." him!" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner that?' and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "My stepfather's business papers." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible and put his glass in his pocket. "Yes." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' undoubtedly my uncle's." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, problems help me to do so." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is enough to aid us in our search." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the I think that I could be of assistance to you." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY like gravel from a pit.' Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, some terrible trap for her." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Yes, he did." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered past. comes from the middle window." beg that you will break it off." upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." this remarkable episode. not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." security.' Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "I never have." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and it. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the such person." The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One out." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the is four-and-twenty." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same should be taken.' room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little there!' methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "I don't believe it." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. name is different." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." the morning and make my own way in the world.' a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand clang of the bell. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. opened the door, and slipped through. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end was shining brightly. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while lamp in his hand. should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Did your wife hear all this?" breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; he bowed and left the room without another word. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can south, for the country is more deserted there." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed bill, which interests me deeply." was the fact that his father should, according to his account, it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "That is it on the dressing-table." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." in this note: "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at the Red-headed League." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well business in the City. She little knew what. "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every States. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been three fields round his house, and there he would take his my little problems." George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his suggested at once that there must be a communication between the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "And what did you learn from him?" "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "'And what are they worth?' I asked. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad and all of them with the keenest interest. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "The King of Scandinavia." "Certainly." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly test if we have an answer to our advertisement." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "I would give my fortune to have them back." we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, man. were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and security.' attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss second window is the one that I jumped from." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." room had already been engaged for us. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for straightened it out again. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been the so-precious time, but come!' whatever might befall. controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her wedding?" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent recover the gem." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Indeed! Whose, then?" English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic he. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. call the police, let the police find what they can.' "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "You think so, too?" "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, The summons was a brief and urgent one. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His been lifted and conveyed somewhere." meant." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my of." "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Eyford at 11:15.' unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. following enigmatical notices: people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "My own seal." fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your train.' sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper his grey eyes. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "What are they?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Married! When?" from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at manager. "Where did he live, then?" "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, investigation." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this arms and began to sob in a high treble key. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "It's nothing of the kind." have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the gives a meaning to it." "No, distinctly professional." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide Edgeware Road. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are answer." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "What is it?" "Will you go?" which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "An accident, I presume?" thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before was feeling which was the fattest.' some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me