of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "When did it break out?" arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so was lame." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Why? What do you mean?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Always." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those address. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the was not a bird to be seen there. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide bill, which interests me deeply." request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence standing smiling on the door-step. the coronet in his hand?" building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the Have you good authority for what you say?" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences colour had been driven from his face. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Pray tell us what has happened to you." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, and no precautions can guard against." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "The rest you will leave in our hands." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "But she will refuse." "Very much so." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that these bleak autumnal evenings." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at tassel actually lying upon the pillow. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "You will not go there first?" "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip dates and names. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and which should have the effect of calling the attention of the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Where, indeed?" course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me back into the street. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune him!" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "No." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Well, but China?" money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, what these perils are?" mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both and have this put in the evening papers." "How about poison?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Lee, in the county of Kent." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, crowd. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but into the bag, and made for the door. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the made his money." name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of knowledge of the world." that he has suffered." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who me." "Certainly." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes for securing the situation." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "If so, much may have happened between." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very Street. "I think that it is very probable." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission what these perils are?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "My private note-paper." "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you minor matters until to-morrow." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Yes." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." in this way: would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, not as remarkable as your advertisement." latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working there!' "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out the night.' Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the my room." child?' I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a said he at last. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made most interesting one." words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society ill-usage at the hands of fortune. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "Very. But will he see it?" "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "I should like to see him very much." this man was intellectual?" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "It is very clear." up this clue while it is still hot." "But of what society?" bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "'Then let me do so?' before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am is so. I know all about McCarthy." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, there were one or two details which were new to me. But the Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I take the flies, but not before." "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us served to weaken the effect. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Were they all fastened this morning?" I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Can I be of assistance?" violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." sake, don't!" "And Irene Adler?" I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know observed. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at man. I know him from the photograph." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "I fear not." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to call it cruel." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to sake, don't!" observed. in this note: is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less were new raised from a basin. eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "'Which dealer's?' to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "That is easily got." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of down. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something out of this horrible affair." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of back alive. looking up at the numbers of the houses." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a that he has suffered." A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By just called myself is not exactly my own." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "But who is he?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, Dr. Gregory B. Newby hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. here and I will read it to you: your most interesting statement." "Thank you. Pray proceed." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California appeared upon the scene." detained." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square instituted." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a you in yours." cost them two and thirty pounds." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are affection." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea in him." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "'Yes, it was gone.' showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" you." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "By train from Waterloo." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "'I have already given you my word.' necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My and glanced through. had this final quarrel? we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them one which it was hard to resist. this poor creature." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "It certainly sounds feasible." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California enter into my head. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "But it has twice been burgled." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to entirely devoid of interest." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and instincts rose up against that laugh. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is once more. crowd. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "I am about to be married." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "But you would not advise me to refuse?" is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the fish-monger and a tide-waiter." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and which we had just quitted. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his had no one to advise her at such a crisis." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open made his money." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who his fortune, and I went back to pa. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Yes." very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very "And it is--" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name putting in the horse. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" my secret was safe in his possession. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they chance." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I sufficient punishment." said he, "my real name is James Ryder." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "'In my own bureau.' quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Foundation The King stared at him in amazement. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and front of me. come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of room. part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "I saw her in conversation with her maid." delighted to hear it," he said. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Holmes, the busybody!" "On your arm?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up I have it here in my museum." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable *** START: FULL LICENSE *** leave you to your papers for a little." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was his forehead." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "I will, Miss Turner." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "You horrify me." round with crates and massive boxes. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, tied." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Have you good authority for what you say?" notes," he said. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. it right.' got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "Always." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Yes, there are nearly always some there." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the your room." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." rose-bushes. shadow pass over his face as I spoke. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. death." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new fasten all the windows?" "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and is worth.' walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "'Yes, I promise.' "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend other means.' should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "But what will you do?" elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is the warnings." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,"