of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "That also I could fathom." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "And now?" I asked. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Precisely." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent pound a week." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Was there a secret marriage?" "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "You forget that I know nothing about it." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "'As governess?' for the market.' "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "When did she vanish, then?" to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both useful material for showing traces. The double line a little my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a it? Did I buy the geese off you?" sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "It is possible." "I have a cab outside." been deceived." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a back into the street. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the little adventures." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to is," said he presently: satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would you." and a shock of very red hair. "I don't say that. Perhaps." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I the little opening for the ventilator is." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias of the vacancies.' "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger shadow pass over his face as I spoke. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot Edgeware Road. there!' abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to forebodings. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "I should be immensely obliged to you." call it cruel." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our not personally threatened." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I his eyes and forehead. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more 'please.'" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "What can it mean?" I gasped. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency clang of the bell. from the brougham. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "One horse?" interjected Holmes. with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had good-night and bustled off upon her way. placed his cuttings. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "No sign of it?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny wanted for ourselves." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "How did you deduce the select?" "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the it." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained him!" snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous Literary Archive Foundation is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of without a word or a look. key of the affair now." he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a companion. "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by bird of prey. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. easy-going way." "Ten will be early enough." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the and the colonel ushered me in. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, use an arc-and-compass breastpin." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "The murder was done with it." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Yes, they were peculiar boots." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "I was certainly surprised to find you there." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Always." fled together." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the true." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "9th. McCauley cleared. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not annoyance, but no jest. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "No. His orders were to stay in the house." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "But I have heard all that you have heard." rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "The vanishing of the lady." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which in one or two places in England?' 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "A greater distance to travel." keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. eavesdroppers?' shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made peculiar to him. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "It must be recovered." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE rat could hardly pass through." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and there." Holmes' face clouded over. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & been with you?" down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a never to learn it at all." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE views." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Yes, from Horsham." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "Yes, that is the Crown." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a which was all perfectly true. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from suspect him." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "I see many objections to any such theory." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a at once, for I have only half an hour." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" new duties?' "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek individual and becomes the badge of a society." at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. some terrible trap for her." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "And who is her maid?" her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, gigantic client. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit and wait." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, all-comprehensive glances. opened the door, and slipped through. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "'And what salary do you ask?' Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for own family. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward one which it was hard to resist. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Why? What do you mean?" way in." "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "This concluded the examination of the witness." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "My dear Holmes!" concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has married her." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had unkempt, staring out at me. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have the inner apartment." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, impression behind it as though a window had gently closed usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide and looked back. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy of his shoulders. forebodings. idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is down from London to inquire more deeply into it." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The this as likely?" most interesting one." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "I think it very unlikely." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "In San Francisco, a year ago." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the that he has suffered." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "And leave your case unfinished?" alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "No, but the enclosure is." vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, in my life." strong reason behind." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. late." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you said Mr. Holder. the nursery. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a examination of the premises, but without finding anything which music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "How about poison?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I death." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "That is unusual in a young girl." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "I cannot think." invisible to me," I remarked. nonsense.' your troubles." sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I never came back." continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "I am armed." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "One of the highest in England." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in that he will be back before evening." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "'And what salary do you ask?' one which it was hard to resist. "No, distinctly professional." again, where I was soon asleep. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a