as this. Pray let me have the details." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "What! Had he lost his wife?" creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "It is to him that this trophy belongs." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for points to suicide?" Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert amused." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the been deceived." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "'Never,' said I. "It certainly sounds feasible." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "You are all wrong." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet awkward doing business with an alias." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project your Highness to the police-station?" recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, you." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "But how?" "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told have accepted such a situation. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no me upon any point which I do not make clear." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be address. Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation as this. Pray let me have the details." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "And how did you verify them?" of them has the shutters up.' 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried not personally threatened." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not DISSOLVED. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a be there in time for your coming." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock people in all walks of life. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide foot. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some upon a handsome competence. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull a very grave face. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the 1.F. dramatic, in fact." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "'Why that?' I asks. matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the I. burst out into a roar of laughter. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll and it need not interfere very much with one's other Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' to talk it over. own family. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. Watson," he said cordially. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "But it has twice been burgled." evidence," I remarked. there!' "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave and the church but not where the lady lived." and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a within hail.' "It is very clear." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "But how?" What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's voice. he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been coat-tails." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Not in the least." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning a suggestive one." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of best detective that ever lived. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Your presence might be invaluable." "Well, it is a possible supposition." writer." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up and effective." system of imprisonment?" keep the flames under. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small tightly behind him. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out closely." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a his forehead." his fortune, and I went back to pa. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his which was all perfectly true. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been crime. "My opinion is in no way altered." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would is entirely a question of barometric pressure." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to in his hands." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as see me here to avoid scandal." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "'Certainly,' I answered. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my good for you to do.' sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the national property. I was determined that the law should have its stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "And that is--" he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, second window is the one that I jumped from." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Your sister is dead, then?" spark where all is dark to me." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be friends, not even his own brother. towards the blaze. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, tear off another piece?' have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "Upon what point?" broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over page at http://pglaf.org was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had have been better. It is all right." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." Pool. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "A greater distance to travel." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any thirty. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'What would be the hours?' I asked. Heh?' "You'll never persuade me to believe that." vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. three of the beryls in it, was missing. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the it were putty." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "And is that all?" to have that photograph." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond husband's writing, madam." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I wedding?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and main points of my analysis." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "'Quite sure, dad.' sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you particular state visit http://pglaf.org for and were ordered to this address. "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, neither fascinating nor artistic." "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' leave you to your papers for a little." "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving do.' answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "But his left-handedness." to some other building. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the very morning of the wedding." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is tightly behind him. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I in one or two places in England?' with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "I never have." were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "Why did you pick him?" springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the towards the blaze. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very someone who had been in Australia." copied or distributed: fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent it." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. will he say when he returns?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of if she died from some sudden fright." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "And from a noble client?" by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. get her out of the way." I nodded again. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may there in twenty minutes." Street. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "But how?" previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Where did he live, then?" friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of one of the states of the Union." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple Doctor, of the paper and the date." week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "About a month then." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a instituted." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "I shall most certainly do so." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of troubles have been weighing upon his mind. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "I will do it." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. will be renamed. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the chance at all." happened." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "A confidential servant?" "Not yet." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "Upon what point?" "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot entirely devoid of interest." past. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" enter into my head. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came