offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "How do you know, then?" what do you think they found in the pockets?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. in the port of London." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the kindly on the shoulder. "I was afraid that you were engaged." had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "'Why that?' I asks. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do did not hear it also.' floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "How often?" face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "Will you go?" "I have a cab outside." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very The events in question occurred in the early days of my seen the man in the road." his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the eat it." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Yes." active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' certainly not very gracious." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see suggested at once that there must be a communication between the would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Yes, the wine-cellar." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "And from a noble client?" again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us make me his representative both with the servants and with the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the depend upon your compliance." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "You'll never persuade me to believe that." her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was residence of the great financier. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "The decline of his fortunes, then?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. Eyford." Holmes' face clouded over. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" young Openshaw's." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" who was a member of your goose club." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "So it appears." eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I for the market.' sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story there were so many in the whole country as were brought together where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "Where to?" up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had remarked. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "It is half-past ten now." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the chill to my heart. to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every if I call to-morrow?" geese which you supplied to the Alpha." 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "Certainly." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; society." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. bedroom door." think that he is innocent?" "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to foot. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Thank you. And your address?" have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a as this. Pray let me have the details." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for the driver. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "Yes, that is the Crown." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet foresight and the moral retrogression?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think and looked back. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to keep the flames under. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double joking. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Then I shall certainly come." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only as he remarks, very much against the son." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King retorted upon me, and I on you." shoulder. "Look there!" said he. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. speckled band?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Then what has happened to him?" note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at and the whole place is in a blaze." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Really! You surprise me." Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Well, some hundreds of times." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It few hundred pounds.' away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Seven!" I answered. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Was she in good spirits?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case speckled band?" written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "'Never.' which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "And for present expenses?" morning." will be renamed. unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "Absolutely?" "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey fluttered off among the others. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and father's young wife. "Very. But will he see it?" tassel actually lying upon the pillow. could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear only touch the interest." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" begun to whiten, even as mine has." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the cost them two and thirty pounds." obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it presented which may be striking and bizarre without being was lame." "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. constraint." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical wanted for ourselves." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who your own bird, so if you wish--" listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' enough to aid us in our search." what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this was keenly on my guard against him. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "You saw the ventilator, too?" fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no the inquest, and which are worth considering." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable himself to tell his story. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles of the one which your family is now devouring." handed it to him. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "How did you deduce the select?" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "I cannot as yet see any connection." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would or in danger--" "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a the matter." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an this truth that in these little records of our cases which you to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to because she had spent so short a time in this country that she usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot new duties?' was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner society." "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man in his hands." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them Doctor, of the paper and the date." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "'Never.' be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Yes, he did." prisoner's face. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was note?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Have you her photograph?" "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else friends, not even his own brother. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." business?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For returning from some small jollification and was making his way you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "Is he quiet?" would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did second." moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his be there in time for your coming." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "So I have heard." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly the bed, and you in that chair." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of and put his glass in his pocket. snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, me. You must get home instantly and act." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "It is half-past ten now." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Holmes' face clouded over. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. voice. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I you for a few hours?" me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "You think that he is dead?" broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "No more words. Get out!" his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. several quiet little villages up there." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "What then?" yourselves in at night?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling troubles have been weighing upon his mind. law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "He said too much." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger away to you." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Sholtos." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a present." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' matters immensely." disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows that I am arrested." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of