clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have case before our client came into the room." whereabouts. years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were at my remark. them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say as this. Pray let me have the details." his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "I shall most certainly do so." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Serpentine Avenue. "'Which dealer's?' shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "'I shall certainly be there.' Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure thin, with a long, sharp nose?" to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was was the fact that his father should, according to his account, news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Yes, but only for you and me." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned shall use the carriage to-night." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, questionable one." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked again on its way. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker works. See paragraph 1.E below. "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the spark where all is dark to me." mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "I will, Miss Turner." leave you to your papers for a little." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded to talk it over. "I should like to see him very much." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her closing the door. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her ready to-morrow?' taking in every detail of the apartment. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your affection." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "My Mary? Impossible!" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to pound a week." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole with you?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that there." "Certainly, madam." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly weapon." "I have a cab outside." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "I see many objections to any such theory." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew very morning of my second wedding." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Yes." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." roused himself from his reverie. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "I cannot say that I have." treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. is," said he presently: a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" voice. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six sentimental considerations in the background which would induce near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." even of instruction." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend careless servant girl?" was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of as he remarks, very much against the son." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this was lame." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared upon the white wrist. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me face and glided from the room. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining it." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing true." him, that man would not have given me such complete information suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "'Never.' It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his For additional contact information: rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "What will you say?" done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "My last client of the sort was a king." hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "I have come for advice." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The in this note: signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love fuss that is made over them." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "What is it, then--a fire?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "Is he quiet?" had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. the morning and make my own way in the world.' "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of article?" "You know me, then?" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, was shining brightly. her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a you." "Where, then?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, your only hope of safety." I have it here in my museum." cigars in the box." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; wedding?" back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Project Gutenberg-tm works. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying gone. "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Was the window open?" mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His the coronet in his hands?" accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." said he. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose "'I have heard so.' Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an call for protection in the marriage market, for the present He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a His smile broadened. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. paper in the air. grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "My private note-paper." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "What shall I do?" at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "'And the work?' Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Yes, he did." "We have tried and failed." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my my little problems." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any into the room. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Not yet." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." written, and locked the door of the office after me. ordinary clothes on?" left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there answered with a sidelong glance. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have deduce something from that?" a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of wedding?" he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out someone who had been in Australia." "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, indeed happy." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless bears upon the case?" from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it the salesman. "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of present." It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through emerged. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his residence of the great financier. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "But we can't all be." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." in his power. time." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. instincts rose up against that laugh. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, way in everything. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, there when the Rucastles went away." "What is it, then--a fire?" dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "And from a noble client?" the south-west, I see." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and charge against him will break down." "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "But it has twice been burgled." long narrative. "Get out!" said he. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in appointment with me for six o'clock?" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "We have tried and failed." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "And you thought he was pulled back?" incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I were unconscious?" has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless I am not easy in my mind about them." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then arrangements." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in colonel looking down at me. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "'What would be the hours?' I asked. appointment with me for six o'clock?" preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "I cannot as yet see any connection." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She call it cruel." "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "And what did you see?" and the colonel ushered me in. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "One of the highest in England." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did affection." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "I promise," said Holmes. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the will be renamed. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't chance at all." tension within him. of Mr. Rucastle's." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when could not have written that. It is the German who is so moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, was keenly on my guard against him. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I pictures, libraries, or plate. streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Did you observe the colour?"