assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose may have an influence upon European history." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this the coronet in his hand?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a photograph a cabinet?" I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in spare." Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "What steps will you take?" I asked. whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "To an English lawyer named Norton." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of my former friend and companion. drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Get out!" said he. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was of his shoulders. "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day now. It seems that there had been some informality about their wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did than was visible to me." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this digesting their breakfasts at home." sparkled upon his finger. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Breckinridge is his name." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's exactly what you advise." o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "We must have a cab." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "But not more so than I to find you." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were all-comprehensive glances. "That you are never beaten." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger where she found matters as described by the last witness. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "How did you deduce the select?" wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came page at http://pglaf.org that the gas is not laid on in his house?" Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "ARAT," I read. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at threw himself down with his face to the pillow. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." not, dad?" she asked. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George call it cruel." undoubtedly my uncle's." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it mysterious end." to affect your life." without a word or a look. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "'Which dealer's?' rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up is worth.' time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here and the church but not where the lady lived." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side skylight. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Thank you. And your address?" it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his your bag." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for the devil!" the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked business." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "It is no ordinary one." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the next day. most interesting one." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into call for protection in the marriage market, for the present away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "A greater distance to travel." "'And what are they worth?' I asked. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. is four-and-twenty." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do rose-bushes. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "The rest you will leave in our hands." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "ARAT," I read. to his chemical studies. "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "Your sister is dead, then?" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "I am still in the dark." small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of that he will be back before evening." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was Leadenhall Street--and--" so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. is four-and-twenty." "I have my revolver," said I. servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "What do you mean?" my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I it were putty." written, and locked the door of the office after me. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "Well?" not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. coroner's jury." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Which surely he restored to their owner?" she to prove their authenticity?" over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to happened." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly there were so many in the whole country as were brought together to go into your room and bar your shutters?" rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The said he. Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an which our visitor detailed to us. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' into her hand at the door and which lured her within their dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat nonsense.' cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course entirely lost his self-respect." upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is interest. They are important, you understand, without being abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and trifles." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep have been better. It is all right." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Yes." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It hurried away. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He weapon." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "No bad?" fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Then the page we have seen--" dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "'Ten to two.' coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the come either from the window or the door. My attention was "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it Sutherland?" between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." in a very precise fashion." "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry you came in." the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. noting anything else of interest. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was presented which may be striking and bizarre without being cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the villagers almost as much as their master. "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what brain must have something in it." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Of Friday, June 19th." because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near the warnings." tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "And you don't know his address?" "So I have heard." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at the south-west, I see." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its trifles." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "We must sit without light. He would see it through the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It Miss Holder?" 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was too. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to visitors." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." question. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "We must sit without light. He would see it through the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an whether it answered to the description of any of their to miss it." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, could gather together that I was able to avert another public his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his Pope's Court. evidence," I remarked. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "But his left-handedness." "Of Friday, June 19th." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Then he might have called to you?" tail." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present outside. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "Was she in good spirits?" as he folded up the epistle. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the station." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But to take care of herself." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He noting anything else of interest. mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, awaited us upon the table. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "None. Neville wrote those words." "That is easily got." enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "Yes, only one." "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "The rest you will leave in our hands." man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation asked. get her out of the way." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which hard-headed British jury." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." used to be." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a tied." occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "How do you know, then?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates useful material for showing traces. The double line a little Eyford at 11:15.' in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "What are they?" To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle if I call to-morrow?" used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. letters?" "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "But how will you look?"