"'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "You have a clue?" "'What, the red-headed man?' be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, the side-table." "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "'Yes, I promise.' "Why did you beat the pavement?" vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to excitement. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled best detective that ever lived. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this a monotonous occupation." 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for your only hope of safety." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future held up the lantern and gazed about him. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It upon the white wrist. this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case to-night?' "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Certainly." comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a important." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, views." "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "'Not at all. I only doubt--' that you wished to speak to me?' away to you." "'I shall certainly be there.' your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled me where it went to?" overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Was she in good spirits?" "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in man. weighed down with some great anxiety. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between was already answered. "No." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business would then never go into court at all." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "That is easily got." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To back into the street. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between and have this put in the evening papers." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is there!' been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let learned something! Where are the gems?" over part of the map. "What do you read?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have observed. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers cigars in their mouths. hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "And when will you call?" and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned this poor creature." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the Young McCarthy must be got off, however." friends, not even his own brother. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few hereditary King of Bohemia." and wait." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some before, for it was considerably after midnight. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Yes, that is the Crown." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly handed it to him. "Imitated." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Does that suggest anything?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he questioning and rather startled gaze. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless ran thus: "By all means." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "My own seal." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Miss Holder?" your room." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with papers on the sundial.'" and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day appointment with me for six o'clock?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "Pray continue your narrative." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "No, distinctly professional." suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy your most interesting statement." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the very letters. But what is this written above them?' equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. have had none more fantastic than this." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" other means.' left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come ashen face. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. beg that you will break it off." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons cheerful." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of four million human beings all jostling each other within the gigantic client. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very became a certainty. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have thought that she would have been so carried away." was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she should be taken.' directly by questioning you." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem read it out to me." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "What do you mean?" Arthur Conan Doyle the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. do.' a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A and a shock of very red hair. closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' did not hear it also.' "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to then?" few hundred pounds.' carpenter." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the details should find their way into the papers. Inspector could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his strong and stiff." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "She will not sell." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in ways of our fellow-men." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see will find little credit to be gained out of this case." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "I am following you closely," I answered. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. Sutherland. letters?" "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said felt the room to be a little close.' have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "I see no marks." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "No." "How about poison?" brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief companion quietly. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "No bad?" Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "No. His orders were to stay in the house." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's him to go away.' the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an you, my dear young lady?' "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if in the dead of the night?' set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Ten will be early enough." the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "I should wish to." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Leadenhall Street--and--" opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "VIOLET HUNTER." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Frequently." is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to it right.' soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "No. His orders were to stay in the house." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "Why, what do you mean?" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of which I could not give. He asked for Alice. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with humiliation." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened the coronet in his hand?" delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called read over the extraordinary announcement. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should to a more successful conclusion." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm a very grave face. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. paper in the air. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the to some other building. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Certainly." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, take the flies, but not before." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; jewels which you have stolen?' desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent pound a week." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "But your client--" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." true." stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. in my life." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already get her out of the way." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very pressing in one house as in another. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest guilty one." "My own seal." "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "It is a murder, then?" noting anything else of interest. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, carpenter." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to pound a week." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "How are you getting on?" Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in how narrow had been my escape. his wife has ceased to love him." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every this as likely?" the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "None." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the is entirely a question of barometric pressure." time." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "We must sit without light. He would see it through the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "When did it break out?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, This is what he says: minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "I cannot tell." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for problems help me to do so." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and night.' said he.