could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "Yesterday." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Quite so." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such lamp. we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the matter over." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, present." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "A confidential servant?" considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the people in all walks of life. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. was a loud and authoritative tap. "Have you it here?" answered with a sidelong glance. keep the flames under. "And you thought he was pulled back?" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." there!' "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall locked. trifles." my room." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan only touch the interest." is now desirous of getting those letters back." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that again, where I was soon asleep. "None." the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be weigh very heavily upon my conscience." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "'Stolen!' he cried. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Yes, there are nearly always some there." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. digesting their breakfasts at home." drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the fluttered off among the others. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some must compliment you." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Did he not advertise?" be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an opened a pocket-book and took out a note. eavesdroppers?' very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a business at Coburg Square is serious." "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a bearing upon the case." moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "My dear Holmes!" which was all perfectly true. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining wife's character?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by eavesdroppers?' man. I know him from the photograph." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the was a perfect sample of the class. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "'Yes, it was gone.' "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There for and were ordered to this address. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips late!' never came back." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country was feeling which was the fattest.' "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that second window is the one that I jumped from." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "What!" he roared. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "'Which dealer's?' Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose upon the white wrist. offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most shall use the carriage to-night." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "Witness: It was. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me least a most suspicious remark." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep her also." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "No more words. Get out!" dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian Mrs. Toller serenely. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches and put his glass in his pocket. deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." a monotonous occupation." "You have carte blanche." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Henry Baker is a member." would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my made him keep the appointment." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." him." present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable child?' "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the that I am arrested." drove away. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "And your mother is alive?" you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "You did not overhear what they said?" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will events than those which have happened in my own family." statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing happened." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "To an English lawyer named Norton." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's your billet.' and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler crowd. "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as straightened it out again. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the your billet.' for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "'Not at all. I only doubt--' every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." opened the door, and slipped through. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "My own seal." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and Sholtos." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "'Yes, sir.' "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is examine." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your disappearance of the bride.'" unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I test if we have an answer to our advertisement." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "And you don't know his address?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is matters immensely." envelope. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are copied or distributed: better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, in him." ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, him nearly every evening." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." I held the little printed slip to the light. feature." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were mysterious end." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the the salesman. "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss are windows in it, of course?" seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I kind enough to tell me what I should do." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a chance at all." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in stalked out of the room. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. and looked back. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the the south-west, I see." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Yes, he did." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "My photograph." "Then he might have called to you?" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when "You think so, too?" shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Then, how do you know?" town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Thank you. And your address?" "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the Henry Baker is a member." toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell the driver. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years the inquest, and which are worth considering." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Was she in good spirits?" thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. good for you to do.' the coronet in his hands?" "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "No, I am descending." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Lee, in the county of Kent." estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with if only as a check to my own memory." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "By no means." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing cigars in their mouths. that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down all-comprehensive glances. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some and all of them with the keenest interest. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "'Stolen!' he cried. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "When did it break out?" square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the name is different." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my noble correspondent could be. case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "To an English lawyer named Norton." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. companion quietly. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of him to go away.' written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly and prosperity to your house. Good-night."