Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and happened." This is what he says: astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to The telegram which we eventually received came late one night I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "And why?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that remarked. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary will he say when he returns?" Arthur Conan Doyle Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I giving me time to thank him. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." will not take me long to tell. "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a young Openshaw's." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in II. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very ago." room?" bore every mark of being an average commonplace British either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. in the hope of finding them." himself to hunt down. difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were to me. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he I have it here in my museum." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "Where, then, is my wife?" goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working be best to do. There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close residence of the great financier. down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the are, I think, all that we need." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Count Von Kramm." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, his eyes and forehead. "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. Chief Executive and Director quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "What then?" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Then you may be so with me." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Of Friday, June 19th." public press." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached all-comprehensive glances. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper gentleman's clothes. deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "'There is a drive, then?' Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here Pope's Court. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "You are all wrong." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his What do you deduce from it?" conclusions. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had their singular warning or token before them when starting upon amused." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "'Then let me do so?' gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know occurred." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." little adventures." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his you in yours." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs him to go away.' "Always." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding there were one or two details which were new to me. But the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good conceal it?" compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own of fine shops and stately business premises that they really this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "My private note-paper." Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the new acquaintance to Baker Street. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Have you good authority for what you say?" that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "What office?" towards the blaze. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I returning from some small jollification and was making his way standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced had formerly been in part my own. up this clue while it is still hot." Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per License. You must require such a user to return or Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a more terrible than the truth. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. guilty one." the address that was given us in the advertisement. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "What is it?" "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon it? Did I buy the geese off you?" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite Holmes rather sternly. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which call for protection in the marriage market, for the present liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always had picked up in the wood. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "It is a murder, then?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face The telegram which we eventually received came late one night would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Pray tell us what has happened to you." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "But what is it you wish?" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I to-night?" I asked. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. to a more successful conclusion." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a are, and they are waiting for us." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed some water from a caraffe. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire directly by questioning you." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at and looked back. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have weapon." a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "Why serious?" "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "'Tell me all about it,' said I. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the I held the little printed slip to the light. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, the very morning of the wedding." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "He slept on the premises." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew passage and a tap at the door. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my tear off another piece?' the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'In my own bureau.' them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he brandy and water within his reach. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I is worth.' to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "No. What a strange idea!" locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "Pray be precise as to details," said he. be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this such attractions and accomplishments?' the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "And what did you learn from him?" hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and tassel actually lying upon the pillow. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "At what time?" derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the showing my impatience. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I my friend's incisive reasoning. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my suspect him." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these details." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain there was no need for father to know." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" down from London to inquire more deeply into it." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "What do you mean?" sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his the running down." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "And why?" or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Yes." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the of Fenchurch Street." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "That is easily got." was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a lamp in his hand. on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue useful material for showing traces. The double line a little always that they were such commands as a lady might with common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "Entirely." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "And you thought he was pulled back?" month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them undoubtedly my uncle's." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Why serious?" was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." laugh and put his lips to my ear. lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Yes." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! out." yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his maid will bring up your coffee." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "'No, I know no one in these parts.' of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that answered with a sidelong glance. wall." method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "How about poison?" since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Did you become engaged then?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the little adventures." gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads nonsense.' in one or two places in England?' outsides of the windows. success. it with his own hands." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my forbidden door. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." fluttered off among the others. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger character. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the highly," said Holmes. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for My friend smiled. respectable self." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was purpose of examination. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a said I. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and