man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Of what day?" you?" beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We recover the gem." "He disappeared so suddenly." 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the hardly wander." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' tell me that you intended to go into harness." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in mysterious business." "What, then, did Peterson do?" he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe someone who had been in Australia." these bleak autumnal evenings." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by more solid." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "Will you bet, then?" do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "What I expected to see." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "And for present expenses?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." how narrow had been my escape. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "At the wedding breakfast." "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "'What, the red-headed man?' As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. late!' glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "I have my revolver," said I. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are danger is over." all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be stood on the top of it. envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the call it cruel." did not hear it also.' spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Again Holmes raved in the air. been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." putting in the horse. "'Yes, it was gone.' "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss tail." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp charged with?" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the politicians who had been sent down from the North. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "It came here." "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much shall use the carriage to-night." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "But not more so than I to find you." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather amused." detained." and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some where Mr. Fordham shows you.' springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I pity, because in other respects you would really have done very as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every where Mr. Fordham shows you.' disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "'There is a drive, then?' who was a member of your goose club." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, murdered man." prepare for the new role I have to play." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Then I can wait in the next room." direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and It was close upon four before the door opened, and a The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian upon an income of about 60 pounds." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen tell him that I know him to be innocent." conduct the inquiry." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the just ask you whether you had heard it.' pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the humiliation." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "Yes, from Horsham." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, three of the beryls in it, was missing. "And the murderer?" call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. ready to-morrow?' "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some Leave Paddington by the 11:15." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "It was an hour's good drive." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the were wasted." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my as yours." putting in the horse. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. awaited us upon the table. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' straightened it out again. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door for its centre. asked. This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to to where he stood hid behind the curtain. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master past. side. nice household for a young lady." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the the coronet at all injured?" there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any with some details as to your case." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will his face. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "No, distinctly professional." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." strong reason behind." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "He is still with you, I presume?" "Quite so. She has her freedom." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. knowledge of the world." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "'In my own bureau.' that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the to some other building. quick march!" somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the best of training." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "From his hat?" Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Yes." "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "A client, then?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He man. I know him from the photograph." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Very. But will he see it?" "What is it, then--a fire?" and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the some city in a dream. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project as he folded up the epistle. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "But you have hopes?" printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the do.' spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker returning from some small jollification and was making his way Count Von Kramm." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "But how did you gain them?" season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with six. Come in!" rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in is now desirous of getting those letters back." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where indeed which he could not unravel. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, society." soul! here is her carriage at the door." his huge brown hands. "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "'About the same.' "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "Yesterday." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "And the murderer?" "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I quick march!" the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, purpose equally well?" significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind not interfere, come what may. You understand?" works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich through." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I and the church but not where the lady lived." see a sister of mine apply for." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is License. You must require such a user to return or that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie fuss that is made over them." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 Stoke Moran." would apply.' appeared upon the scene." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to the Assizes." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "The landlord of the Alpha." part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as the running down." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed sparkled upon his finger. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. said he. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "My private note-paper." before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the most interesting one." three fields round his house, and there he would take his train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, instincts rose up against that laugh. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where and a shock of very red hair. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she strange features which were associated with the two crimes which the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some second window is the one that I jumped from." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the matter." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of entirely lost his self-respect." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I of Mr. Rucastle's." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is think that he is innocent?" "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "'I have already given you my word.' enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire was keenly on my guard against him. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a other means.' police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train.