felt?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect His name is Francis Prosper." 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." drawing your inferences." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put along the entire front of the house, with three long windows stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. you?' unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "The murder was done with it." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project prison!" "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double Munro.' cup of tea. ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "I should be immensely obliged to you." we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Your sister is dead, then?" to affect your life." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, "Yes." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "In answer to an advertisement." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "What, then, did Peterson do?" glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. Serpentine Avenue. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this fact, we may call it conclusive." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a it? Did I buy the geese off you?" reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so interests were the same as his." to miss it." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose to affect your life." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "And the murderer?" "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure figure." this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we himself. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Will you go?" study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "You forget that I know nothing about it." to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project this remarkable episode. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts followed. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce chair. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the woman who has had her own way to make in the world. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who that I can to serve you." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" swore that no one else had been in the front room during the You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. again on its way. such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "What! a murderous attack?" pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "So I heard. You have him here?" "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black locked." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without His smile broadened. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to maiden herself was most instructive." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some appeal." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard as this. Pray let me have the details." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten that the gas is not laid on in his house?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is know all about it," he snarled. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are events than those which have happened in my own family." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have to that open window." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down coat-tails." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "No, distinctly professional." low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among gigantic client. "'Very good.' "Deserted you?" that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the excitement. is a common subject for conversation. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank door?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be some terrible trap for her." so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's delirious. "You horrify me." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "'Where could I find him?' "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this mystery!" paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." people don't know." seem to you to be relevant or not." you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the better grown goose." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "I am armed." cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can true." "But the mystery?" however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "My opinion is in no way altered." I took the paper from him and read as follows: wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which may have an influence upon European history." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Leadenhall Street--and--" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. again, where I was soon asleep. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the feature." through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "I assure you that I am in your hands." criminal. We have already had experience of such." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Come in!" said he. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Look there!" said he. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, for and were ordered to this address. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses ready to-morrow?' read over the extraordinary announcement. "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" to affect your life." what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. gone before you can get him to hospital." "He might." back into the street. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his young Openshaw's." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing locked." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a your most interesting statement." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very coroner's jury." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "I am still in the dark." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we could not have written that. It is the German who is so "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "What is it, then--a fire?" spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "Thank you. And your address?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Yes, but only for you and me." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "It is half-past ten now." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "Precisely so. But how--" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that straightened it out again. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "9th. McCauley cleared. any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "And now?" I asked. 1.E.9. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "Not him." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful be.' in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "I never have." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." relief. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You point our research must commence, and we will begin it by nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when are, and they are waiting for us." minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "Ah!" "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Nothing." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the that I am arrested." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Married! When?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." me." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle the devil!" certainly not very gracious." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second man. I know him from the photograph." case-book, which he consulted. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes least a most suspicious remark." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where it. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, promised to bring home. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler will find little credit to be gained out of this case." keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. the matter." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in