took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. rose-bushes. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' desk. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Could he throw no light?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "And on what day did he meet his death?" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with deduce something from that?" and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "You have it, sir, just as it happened." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "I cannot imagine." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable leave you to your papers for a little." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now eat it." at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties said he, "my real name is James Ryder." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Yes, there are nearly always some there." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and me. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "That is easily got." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a seen the man in the road." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "And the murderer?" "He is still with you, I presume?" "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack hour?' story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did ill-usage at the hands of fortune. My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then Sholtos." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I But Holmes shook his head gravely. delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Proceed, then." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual fire. You quite follow me?" Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "What shall I do?" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three ready to-morrow?' purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from there when the Rucastles went away." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were trifles." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." confronted him. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to read it out to me." someone who had been in Australia." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and I shall communicate with you." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "How about poison?" 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up money should be paid at once.' had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "I should like to see him very much." tightly behind him. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "But how?" "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered Henry Baker is a member." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, have been better. It is all right." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "At what time?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He distance from the station, and there we found the young lady Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not foot. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two copied or distributed: heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "That was it, sir." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue bearing upon the case." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his God! What an exposure! What can I do?" iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for God! What an exposure! What can I do?" England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy feature." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" answer." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried chambers. "Whose house is it?" all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." interests were the same as his." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you returned to France?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. in the dead of the night?' deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to relief. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in October 9, 1890. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have time." the room while you explain this matter?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "Here?" "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." his face. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." what I may call a really hard day's work." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies second window is the one that I jumped from." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. neither fascinating nor artistic." confronted him. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "'I am sure that I do not know.' advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Not I." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "But you can know nothing of this?" seem to you to be relevant or not." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "And your father? Did you tell him?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of matter over." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and acquaintance?" coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have which I could not give. He asked for Alice. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, results." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried my special province." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "'Yes, I promise.' hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Oh, fresh and glossy." should be so warm over such a trifle." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. Holmes' face clouded over. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and public press." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "The decline of his fortunes, then?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. once more on the important position which you have been fortunate of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the prison!" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "We were both in the photograph." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring the tragedy. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, read over the extraordinary announcement. if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. during which he might have communicated with his friend the "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "It is no ordinary one." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "I cannot tell." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," think, you have already met." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he long narrative. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small to his chemical studies. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that approach us with offers to donate. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and individual and becomes the badge of a society." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "And you can do nothing until then?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa himself to tell his story. "That's no good." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a relief. him, that man would not have given me such complete information and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Thank you. Pray proceed." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, this poor creature." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that sooner or later she must fall a victim. "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the The events in question occurred in the early days of my As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "He slept on the premises." "'Yes, I promise.' all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Yes, they were peculiar boots." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no hair?' "And how did you verify them?" Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey the Red-headed League." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For bonnet, and went out." "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, it." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "But how?" "When did it break out?" incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "But not more so than I to find you." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "Have you it here?" set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." The King stared at him in amazement. for securing the situation." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock do.' "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Yes." left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is wanted for ourselves." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" the coroner come to?" undoubtedly my uncle's." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "No, thank goodness, she did not." sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." nonsense.' He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "Thank you. And your address?" can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black overpowering excitement and concern. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP dead, shall be safe with us." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "That's no good." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. business." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just be.' took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought