into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable how narrow had been my escape. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would before the coroner and the police-court." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A enter Dr. Roylott's room." and a shock of very red hair. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and was used.' "And when will you call?" hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Deserted you?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney remarked. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "He disappeared so suddenly." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "I think that I had better go, Holmes." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "It came here." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which "It is no ordinary one." "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "The gentleman I describe." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. the roots. that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock trying to your nerves." bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "Oh, fresh and glossy." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and DAMAGE. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to least a fellow-countryman. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his have not had my rubber." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." 1.E.9. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "What have you done?" asked Holmes. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "And did you observe any change in her then?" "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of even so self-evident a thing as that." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "But how will you look?" tassel actually lying upon the pillow. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their address. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had of them has the shutters up.' week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local off." "Oh, yes, easily." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he status with the IRS. as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while such attractions and accomplishments?' "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover present." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "How are you getting on?" wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." his grey eyes. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office placed his cuttings. is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom 'please.'" said I. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get "Your sister is dead, then?" been deceived." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There populous neighbourhood." ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. it." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a chambers. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. a suggestive one." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is is entirely a question of barometric pressure." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been made his money." and put his glass in his pocket. answered with a sidelong glance. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "You horrify me!" and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "What! Had he lost his wife?" "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. dates and names. sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "And I say east," said my patient. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be tell him that I know him to be innocent." wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' existence." to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his think that any burglar could have done. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was My friend smiled. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "How many? I don't know." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "'Oh, no.' other lovers by making love himself." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what other, as fresh and trim as possible. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his man. "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND in the hope of finding them." 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box depend upon my doing so.' of a light. could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "No." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in both be extremely obliged.' "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "No, my brougham is waiting." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." away into the river." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a four million human beings all jostling each other within the was already answered. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. remarked. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." politicians who had been sent down from the North. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "You were travelling in the States?" remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "It is possible." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and is," said he presently: "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet room. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "You think so, too?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we to some other building. The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "Quite so." "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project them present such singular features as the strange train of seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real is worth.' preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a paper in the air. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "She showed me, as I told you she would." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right and it need not interfere very much with one's other what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Really! You surprise me." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "And your father? Did you tell him?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does and glanced through. you came in." whatever might befall. "None." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "BALLARAT." "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "There are none." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small remarked. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "He disappeared so suddenly." "Yes, that is the Crown." "And you don't know his address?" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent paper in the air. could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me matter." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked and effective." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the beg that you will break it off." friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in lids now and glanced across at his visitor. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Of what?" Holmes rather sternly. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away voice. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." of receipt of the work. man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous and your relations to her." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. tension within him. he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "The decline of his fortunes, then?" be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "Yes, the wine-cellar." the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a Heh?' heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." away to you." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" help us in this matter." detective. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "I was certainly surprised to find you there." either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "Then what has happened to him?" stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense new duties?' she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "I fear not." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "You know me, then?" severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "No, but the enclosure is." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might delighted to hear it," he said. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being colonel looking down at me. impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he conceal it?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Entirely." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, upon the sideboard." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was front of me. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "But we can't all be." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "A thing like a cleaver," said he. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" meant it for the best. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "And how?" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "You saw the ventilator, too?" a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug purpose of examination. "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. companion. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "What then?"