putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "No, distinctly professional." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly tightly behind him. had no one to advise her at such a crisis." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project if I call to-morrow?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is what these perils are?" About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my him, that man would not have given me such complete information or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am you." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "Nearly eleven." that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "Was there a secret marriage?" ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite arrested. You then--" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making father's young wife. these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill hopeless attempt at recovering them." his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of 11:15.' man. I know him from the photograph." "'Certainly not. But why?' present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I cannot think." minor matters until to-morrow." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't to miss it." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help open." there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and leave you to your papers for a little." "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' you." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "'Never,' said I. had died away into the silence from which it rose. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored already been minutely examined." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all me have 200 pounds?' crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the constraint." dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "And when will you call?" window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the that you wished to speak to me?' were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of know all about it," he snarled. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Yes, sir." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "'I am sure if I had known--' Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he him and tried to hold him back. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered Eyford." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it fled together." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had was the fact that his father should, according to his account, explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his that I am arrested." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, beg that you will break it off." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "'Then let me do so?' "When did she vanish, then?" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "No, but the enclosure is." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I nothing with him." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "My photograph." "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast you?" "I shall be delighted." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." one which it was hard to resist. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Quite so." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an one of them." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "I shall be delighted." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was criminal. We have already had experience of such." 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Imitated." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method writers could invent nothing more crude." "I do." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Can I be of assistance?" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "Certainly." observed. "How about poison?" sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is him!" "Pray continue your narrative." clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. your bag." "But how?" road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three over with notes and figures. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business had picked up in the wood. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "And Miss Sutherland?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Watson," he said cordially. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the figure." felt?" American. Then who could this American be, and why should he to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit questionable one." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "I cannot tell." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when society." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his to-morrow." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "No?" "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "The gentleman I describe." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "'Most admirably.' "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with served to weaken the effect. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Not in the least." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his really the only notable feature about the thing." but preventing her from injuring another. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Well, it is a possible supposition." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a as he folded up the epistle. "I promise," said Holmes. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable once more to my work. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, night.' said he. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "What is it, then--a fire?" Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Leadenhall Street--and--" of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a My friend smiled. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached dramatic, in fact." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "To an end?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in already referred to. sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his sit on the left-hand side of the driver." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off your room." its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "And the murderer?" the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall lost nothing by them." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert started for the Temple to see my husband. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, served to weaken the effect. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "No, my brougham is waiting." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, meanly of me." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." at once, for I have only half an hour." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "Oh, fresh and glossy." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the Assizes." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon information in his hands the value of which he did not himself winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "She will not sell." outsides of the windows. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave ways of our fellow-men." "I will do it." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the in the port of London." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now sparkled upon his finger. "It is very kind of you." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and that he will be back before evening." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "I cannot tell." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and take the flies, but not before." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "Whose house is it?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came me have 200 pounds?' charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the this unhappy family?" "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "At what time?" "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back pity, because in other respects you would really have done very breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it any." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and populous neighbourhood." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with for the market.' relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "It was." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by if only as a check to my own memory." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in there were so many in the whole country as were brought together recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the words came to my lips. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker and your relations to her." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not any more." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of he bowed and left the room without another word. I was concerned in it." showing my impatience. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from get the tickets." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was then?" plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "Do you know him?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "How did you trace it, then?" feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the armchair which I pushed forward for him. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "My photograph." "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. the King without delay." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good fire. You quite follow me?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To was keenly on my guard against him. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Does that suggest anything?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "Is he quiet?" "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. something of him before." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can *** START: FULL LICENSE *** shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' I. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little speckled band?" breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "How many? I don't know." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "'And the work?' forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if him and tried to hold him back. want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Gutenberg-tm License. were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on as the one I chose?' and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "But of what society?" upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "What!" he roared. is entirely a question of barometric pressure."