He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, tell me that you intended to go into harness." "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran his knees, staring into the fire. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His discontent upon his features. present." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The papers diligently of late, have you not?" the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "The Cedars?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "It's nothing of the kind." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in about. even so self-evident a thing as that." "'Quite sure, dad.' "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "'Stolen!' he cried. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a just ask you whether you had heard it.' hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "He is still with you, I presume?" despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "Oh, fresh and glossy." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Heh?' Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre with the outside air!" "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "My Mary? Impossible!" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "And I to find an enemy." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where felt?" vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than my special province." Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to which it had come upon my father." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for new duties?' its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" crackling voice. affection." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "To the police?" forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! purpose equally well?" room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. next day. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, his grey eyes. look upon these things in a different way." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried man. I know him from the photograph." would apply.' uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a trying to your nerves." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." again before evening." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have ourselves in the office." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Entirely." now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Mary, has deserted me." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it skylight. look upon these things in a different way." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without is four-and-twenty." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "'Yes, it was gone.' indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very this remarkable episode. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He awaited us upon the table. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood next day. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for disturbance in my wife." the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "Seven!" I answered. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution to you." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" woman." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the matter over." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day be best to do. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her purpose equally well?" into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no Leave Paddington by the 11:15." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of used to be." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "And Miss Sutherland?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "I am about to be married." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but man. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "That is possible." nonsense.' hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. she used." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself should be taken.' death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' grasp, he hurried from the room. down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper if she died from some sudden fright." orange pips. I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in and a shock of very red hair. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "She walked into the breakfast-room." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "Yes, only one." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Where is it, then?" "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else waste of energy." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "That was it, sir." nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more floor. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the ways including including checks, online payments and credit card There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "And did you observe any change in her then?" collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic other, as fresh and trim as possible. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "And how did you verify them?" practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "There is the writing." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right kindly on the shoulder. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Pray do so." tied." "'What then?' I asked. "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a strength." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What very peculiar words of the dying woman?" rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too Chief Executive and Director "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich locked. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "He said that you could solve anything." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had "I am following you closely," I answered. hurried by. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with yourselves in at night?" "It is solved." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was and the colonel ushered me in. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." were unconscious?" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. putting in the horse. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and breakfast?" would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "You'll never persuade me to believe that." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody absorbing." imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I everything which you would wish to know." may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a appeared upon the scene." We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, spark where all is dark to me." the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up my little problems." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for she used." permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be cigars in the box." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "Where, indeed?" sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped dates and names. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "Why? What do you mean?" over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I will not look." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Yes, he did." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just mystery." We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "His face fell immediately. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't fled together." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had father's place of business?" Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Game for a morning drive?" "There is the writing." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "The gentleman I describe." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the of your young ladies.' "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "I would pay ten." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may "Well." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and matter." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and within hail.' butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" tension within him. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. hurried by. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their