police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first rose-bushes. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from shag which I had seen upon the previous night. same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Nor running a chance of arrest?" it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by Pope's Court. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of said he. thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the him nearly every evening." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was official police." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "Dirty?" photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "Imitated." "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but as he remarks, very much against the son." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Very truly yours, investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE which was all perfectly true. "That you are never beaten." "I will do it." you." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "And did you observe any change in her then?" VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Yes, there are nearly always some there." dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same village inn over there?" simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "It is his hat." populous neighbourhood." "Get out!" said he. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "Precisely." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" one of them." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "It was a confession," I ejaculated. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "And you can do nothing until then?" workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as "'What do you call purely nominal?' the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and call you and give you the chance." three of the beryls in it, was missing. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "Really! You surprise me." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note business at Coburg Square is serious." "It is his hat." that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "'Yes, it was gone.' and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "And what did you see?" of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to front of the hall door has given its name to the place. old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "By no means." was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "Nothing?" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "Texas, I think." front of the hall door has given its name to the place. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the forbidden door. to some other building. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Nothing?" His smile broadened. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" fat-encircled eyes. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "And Miss Sutherland?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. union?" a room. four million human beings all jostling each other within the "Here?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler The police have openly confessed that they can at present make with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "It must be recovered." our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "If so, much may have happened between." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "Is he quiet?" have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are address. DAMAGE. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "And you can do nothing until then?" from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your is worth.' I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "It is very kind of you." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of country, and eventually married, without anyone having a standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to lids now and glanced across at his visitor. "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but particular state visit http://pglaf.org "Can I be of assistance?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "'What are you doing there?' he asked. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "I think it very unlikely." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." this remarkable episode. fuss that is made over them." Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this "Yes?" "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, more solid." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." bears upon the case?" Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his companion quietly. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "You horrify me." return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "May I see it?" happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" which was all perfectly true. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and "Certainly." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out went to the Alpha were town bred." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second your bag." the side-table." re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my depend upon my doing so.' Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I was the fact that his father should, according to his account, the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to and glanced through. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up arrangements." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Miss Holder?" late!' remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently more solid." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the the general public were present, then?" outside." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Not in a good cause." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing window when the police appeared." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "I do." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, infinite languor in his face. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the the stable lane now." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while Doctor, of the paper and the date." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Who by?" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Henry Baker is a member." "When did she vanish, then?" With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had locked." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "By no means." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental over his head with a sweet womanly caress. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "Of what day?" "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses yards of it?' The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." coat-tails." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official chamber." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "You are all wrong." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a undoubtedly my uncle's." really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "My stepfather's business papers." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. problems help me to do so." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it one of the states of the Union." *** START: FULL LICENSE *** unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend Street. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the matter." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, happened." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. notes," he said. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. galvanised. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "It's nothing of the kind." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." over here." voice. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you obstinate." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. once more for Briony Lodge. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Precisely." him and tried to hold him back. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "No." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner when your master had gone out." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business will not take me long to tell. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical get her out of the way." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no wedding?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to o'clock is it?" guilty one." locked." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." ways of our fellow-men." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the me upon any point which I do not make clear." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Absolutely none." understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the this poor creature." "We have tried and failed." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you despair." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a once more on the important position which you have been fortunate secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses entirely lost his self-respect." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the not fit the lock." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other to take care of herself." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering where we are going." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "The murder was done with it." are, I think, all that we need." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector and glanced through. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. was lame." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "I am in hopes that she does." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance to-morrow." fear." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has locked. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." a good hundred miles off by now." "Yes." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "None." to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "In answer to an advertisement." recover the gem." me." nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "She told me to ask you." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and orange pips. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "My opinion is in no way altered."