south, for the country is more deserted there." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. little adventures." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, McCarthy." "It is true that I have been generally successful." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "I see no marks." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his have accepted such a situation. fire. You quite follow me?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter matter." my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "Absolutely?" "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had even of instruction." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "I have my revolver," said I. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases said he at last. "Very truly yours, use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' made him keep the appointment." public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the you?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "The doctor?" even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come you?' Does that suggest anything?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of away into the river." "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Then, how do you know?" Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make outsides of the windows. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. three of the beryls in it, was missing. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him which are rolled in Rotterdam." you give your casting vote to?" "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, little trying to do so much typewriting?" in the dead of the night?' walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has window when the police appeared." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to think that any burglar could have done. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place singular points about the case. What did the police think of the snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "'About the same.' "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your and the church but not where the lady lived." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my signal between you and your father? "Absolutely?" for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, once more. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project congratulate you again." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if even of instruction." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. thin legs towards the fire. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "She will not sell." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe approach us with offers to donate. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw the ceiling. more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Witness: Nothing definite. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey politicians who had been sent down from the North. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he hour." is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to had formerly been in part my own. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." in one or two places in England?' "None." places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally wedding?" monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at I am not easy in my mind about them." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny His name is Francis Prosper." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." strong reason behind." the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary Eyford at 11:15.' had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "Yes, I have one waiting." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident such person." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang ways of our fellow-men." "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Then you may entirely rely on me." "Not social, then?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should that he will be back before evening." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and take the flies, but not before." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, the tragedy. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress sit on the left-hand side of the driver." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a unclasping of his long thin hands. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced article?" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as delirious. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' you, my dear young lady?' an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Pool. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no second window is the one that I jumped from." "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up there were so many in the whole country as were brought together to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "What then?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the dangers which encompass me." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." to you." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Yes, at the mines." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "'Yes.' the little opening for the ventilator is." extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose upon an income of about 60 pounds." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" is," said he presently: out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove not personally threatened." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have other, as fresh and trim as possible. impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "Your presence might be invaluable." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be during that time.' upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Never." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to behind me. the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a the Assizes." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my and the colonel ushered me in. do.' with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said them?" including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to there were one or two details which were new to me. But the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America bled considerably." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to very peculiar words of the dying woman?" houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "And is that all?" "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would 'I should be able to look after that for you.' pressing in one house as in another. emerged. clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag standing smiling on the door-step. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Watson," he said cordially. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my purpose of examination. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. mystery!" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "Well?" all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in round with crates and massive boxes. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, I approached. Pool. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! now. It seems that there had been some informality about their my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has dead, shall be safe with us." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, pound a week." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it for the market.' "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered place no limit on the sum I may draw." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in danger is over." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "What, then, did Peterson do?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. as he remarks, very much against the son." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me when your master had gone out." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work affair. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at suspect him." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as colour had been driven from his face. old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "I say it is." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in late." "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own again." particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "And what did you learn from him?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been and a shock of very red hair. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Proceed, then." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, a room. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and depend upon my doing so.' shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I For additional contact information: Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a said he. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day enter into my head. was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, voice. part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "'You cannot say what it was?' "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. mysterious end." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what call the police, let the police find what they can.' absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from about. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of very old mansion. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." his eyes and forehead. Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "What shall I do?" "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Then, as to money?" hour?' into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for know that the truth is known." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still charged with?" suddenly upon us." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I any." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Why serious?" indeed happy." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' you came in." "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Certainly." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and a good hundred miles off by now." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most deduce something from that?" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime until night should bring an explanation. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish