"I never have." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to answered with a sidelong glance. headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed from you?" "Has he come with you to-night?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon I took the paper from him and read as follows: We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "What have you to say now?" footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "By train from Waterloo." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." waste of energy." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "'How far from the body?' "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' remarked. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the "Then I do not see the point." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by dates and names. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which future lives." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Do you receive much company?" he asked. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "To an end?" "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." business?" wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "It is very clear." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "I do." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Do you know him?" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." hour?' on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "I am all attention, madam." abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his over part of the map. "What do you read?" "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said my little problems." police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted manager. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in as he folded up the epistle. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and direction." "Upon what point?" "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, affair. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Holmes' face clouded over. reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of hopeless attempt at recovering them." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got Holmes' thin, eager face. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The the station." "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to Gutenberg-tm License. putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "What! You do not mean bodies?" that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "What shall I do?" "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can of his shoulders. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he families. Now for the facts. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "And you thought he was pulled back?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "I think it very unlikely." line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "Yes." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." to Leatherhead. of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "I beg pardon." 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, against a man in the prime of life?" has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. anything to do with the matter?" or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "'You cannot say what it was?' and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in yards of it?' I held the little printed slip to the light. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an sooner or later she must fall a victim. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Yes." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she foot. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have back to my heart. tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, man. Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Then I can wait in the next room." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. in a very precise fashion." the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor that threaten you." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. sneer upon his pale face. "This photograph!" gbnewby@pglaf.org WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, deduce something from that?" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the clang of the bell. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on points in connection with it which never have been, and probably present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "Yes." "You were travelling in the States?" it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a make me his representative both with the servants and with the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of your billet.' "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and room had already been engaged for us. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "You'll never persuade me to believe that." Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, fear." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." even so self-evident a thing as that." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg and looked back. "Not I." fattened it expressly for you.' constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of Leadenhall Street--and--" her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose and the colonel ushered me in. seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe dramatic, in fact." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a my room." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the not, dad?" she asked. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Who was the criminal, then?" minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" is entirely a question of barometric pressure." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "And the murderer?" "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and them?" wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "What is it?" When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "What can it mean?" I gasped. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "That you are never beaten." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a society." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was certainly not very gracious." "Very. But will he see it?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "I have come for advice." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or intimate personal affairs in this public manner." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry that you saw all that I did." read over the extraordinary announcement. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was chambers. morning." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole back to my heart. "My own seal." side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "And help." "It came here." "What shall I do?" though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the second window is the one that I jumped from." your troubles." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the and glanced through. "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable swore that no one else had been in the front room during the grasp, he hurried from the room. "Perfectly so." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to shadow pass over his face as I spoke. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," interest. They are important, you understand, without being The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where future lives." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, not within a twentieth part of the market price." myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' done what I asked you, Jones?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens comes from the middle window." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my former friend and companion. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before cigar and let me expound." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some that he has suffered." his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Dirty?" way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." you want, then?' you." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in fact, we may call it conclusive." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was done what I asked you, Jones?" "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he points in connection with it which never have been, and probably still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" returned to France?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, States. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "I should wish to." subject to the trademark license, especially commercial coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were now. It seems that there had been some informality about their continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "But she could not love him." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "What then?" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I colonel looking down at me. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from matter over." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "So I heard. You have him here?" envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. morning." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Precisely." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "But you have hopes?" appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of locked." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. bill, which interests me deeply." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "Well, some hundreds of times." "And when will you call?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, father's place of business?" "What, then, did Peterson do?" "How did that help you?" believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man wanted for ourselves." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Your presence might be invaluable." "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her minor matters until to-morrow." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Yes." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a