he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling whereabouts. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very conceal it?" "Then I am your man." "And you can do nothing until then?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "But he might be a bachelor." "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Not in a good cause." the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "Where, then?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while and your relations to her." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not more solid." offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "Deserted you?" of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a down from London to inquire more deeply into it." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a You can understand that this register and diary may implicate effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND nothing of it?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took to have that photograph." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. have been better. It is all right." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Was there a secret marriage?" The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Come in!" said Holmes. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and the ceiling. as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A 'please.'" instincts rose up against that laugh. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house attention." past. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I careless servant girl?" The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of unprecedented a position." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "And who is her maid?" learned something! Where are the gems?" the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." lamp. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "I warn you that they are very incomplete." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It suddenly upon us." Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I astonishment. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "The vanishing of the lady." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "'Certainly,' I answered. smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing it were putty." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, your only hope of safety." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "That is unusual in a young girl." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I sound at heart." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We vanished into the darkness. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent when you have done it." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "No, my brougham is waiting." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa The police have openly confessed that they can at present make twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood dramatic, in fact." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Married! When?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace telegram would bring me down to your help." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past since then to throw any light upon what became of him." very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Oh, yes, easily." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman flock.' quickly through a disagreeable task. housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'Not at all. I only doubt--' a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Well?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Very truly yours, fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the during which he might have communicated with his friend the "What will you do, then?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Entirely." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most my former friend and companion. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss the address that was given us in the advertisement. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I for its centre. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" to a more successful conclusion." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a is acting for the best. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I his face. his eyes and forehead. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Proceed, then." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must this poor creature." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to cost them two and thirty pounds." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" the child." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, situation." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Yesterday." flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and Eyford at 11:15.' you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "Of what?" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Certainly." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He main points of my analysis." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this success. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "That is easily got." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he hour." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "He might." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "A call for help, you thought?" the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings have got?" high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "Dr. Becher's." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then chambers. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect for and were ordered to this address. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "Pray do so." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There at home. right! Sit down and let us talk it over." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon where Mr. Fordham shows you.' flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here http://www.gutenberg.net coroner's jury." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. particular state visit http://pglaf.org 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an said he. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to more solid." to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "Was your sister dressed?" reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your it." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. hands. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it on in his house." "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on is four-and-twenty." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and me upon any point which I do not make clear." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. what these perils are?" he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the made his money." "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Then I am your man." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "And how in the world did you find them?" help us in this matter." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things discontent upon his features. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "He might." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland one or two very singular points about this room. For example, fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "What then?" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the said he. "Yes." squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to most important business. It is probable that he will be away all figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length remarked. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your to miss it." "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "'Yes, it was gone.' up this clue while it is still hot." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a jewels which you have stolen?' discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a it." Literary Archive Foundation breakfast?" "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they bearing upon the case." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "The gentleman I describe." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to married her." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding The summons was a brief and urgent one. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, shall use the carriage to-night." where she found matters as described by the last witness. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "It was." "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and "My opinion is in no way altered." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was is," said he presently: feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Well, it is a possible supposition." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "'How far from the body?' "What?" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the but preventing her from injuring another. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, learned something! Where are the gems?" distinguish the words: lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, instincts rose up against that laugh. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "It is solved." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "By all means." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed