to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. and effective." made his money." unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "Where, indeed?" "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "There is the writing." on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." because she had spent so short a time in this country that she details." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just one else, I think." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as without a word or a look. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: lost nothing by them." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer once more for Briony Lodge. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and peculiar to him. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges and files of the old papers, following the future career of every built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' head. So long, then!" they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some security.' a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any to tell." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' present." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE go back?" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself helping a boy to put up the shutters. ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'Certainly,' I answered. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it noise which awoke you from your sleep?" Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "Yes." excitement. in this note: and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To the running down." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip country, and eventually married, without anyone having a him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "We were both in the photograph." "What?" commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet prisoner's face. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices despair." him to go away.' have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, unprecedented a position." voice, changing her seat as requested. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "That sounds a little paradoxical." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Pray continue your narrative." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." visitors." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "Who by?" "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it the night.' garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. least a fellow-countryman. least a fellow-countryman. or other trace. But how on earth--" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too if only as a check to my own memory." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are her also." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," murdered man." in the port of London." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "To ruin me." What do you deduce from it?" their singular warning or token before them when starting upon heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss I leave." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was appointment with me for six o'clock?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and ran thus: have had none more fantastic than this." It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy one or two very singular points about this room. For example, see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you It may be so in this case, also." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" I leave." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far there were one or two details which were new to me. But the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that down in his armchair and closing his eyes. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "One horse?" interjected Holmes. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to them, and came down just as you departed. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "That you are never beaten." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a been able to understand it, in a very few words. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "Where, then, is my wife?" murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Ten will be early enough." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "The gentleman I describe." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "'A dozen yards or so.' array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "I say it is." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "No, I had a dozen." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered in this way: "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "And your father? Did you tell him?" a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a child?' and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is over part of the map. "What do you read?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "And what did you see?" even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. and effective." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a Holmes." did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "But what is it you wish?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Very well, sir. And this stone?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down the ceiling. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in to surprise her." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "We have tried and failed." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. I. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the the devil!" the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could long narrative. like that before?" "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he the tragedy. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. take the flies, but not before." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy "Yes, sir." that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No only touch the interest." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "That is also quite modern," said the lady. unkempt, staring out at me. over his head with a sweet womanly caress. of Fenchurch Street." make me his representative both with the servants and with the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy without success. At last the little money which I had saved began stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "The vanishing of the lady." of them has the shutters up.' the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found threw himself down with his face to the pillow. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." man. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my telegram would bring me down to your help." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about true." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Of what?" "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, three of the beryls in it, was missing. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Thank you. And your address?" whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to McCarthy." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "So I have heard." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "And why?" to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite business." with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, eavesdroppers?' Mary, has deserted me." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been passage and a tap at the door. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "What is it?" age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might again before evening." "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he questioning and rather startled gaze. or in danger--" might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature upon the sideboard." girl said." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in The note was undated, and without either signature or address. my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, of the efforts of the United States government and of the better that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "How long did she speak to this Alice?" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little he died? way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter that wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "Awake, Watson?" he asked. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Yes." "We must have a cab." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Why serious?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she indiscretion." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "I shall most certainly do so." diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My