"Where did you address your letters, then?" to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike success. "You have carte blanche." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "You were travelling in the States?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Eyford." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Perfectly so." "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "It is possible." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "'There is a drive, then?' idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in light and attacked it." "About a month then." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and tassel actually lying upon the pillow. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our will be renamed. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and is," said he presently: laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, open." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets help us in this matter." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "Yes." would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." 11:15.' ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's guilty parties." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "'Certainly not.' might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' walking." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as must compliment you." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "A call for help, you thought?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "'Never.' our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "An accident, I presume?" butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the gone. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. shoulder. way in." cigars in their mouths. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "I have my revolver," said I. and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of directly by questioning you." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body Henry Baker is a member." explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back question," said Holmes, smiling. coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary pierced for earrings?" this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "The knees of his trousers." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "Your French gold?" part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "Then I do not see the point." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of back alive. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the people don't know." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the would then never go into court at all." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my forebodings. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe own family. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "'What, the red-headed man?' in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was dramatic, in fact." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, swore that no one else had been in the front room during the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Yes, sir." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "Then I am your man." "Thank you. Pray proceed." gone. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "You know me, then?" his wife has ceased to love him." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what shall use the carriage to-night." a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "You will not go there first?" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Indeed! Whose, then?" you." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this "But we can't all be." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "On Monday." 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to the King without delay." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it way in." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In obstinate." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "Then I can wait in the next room." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a this remarkable episode. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "At the wedding breakfast." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the are windows in it, of course?" that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. here." this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up the Friday. Was it to be in church?" King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. this remarkable episode. "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the to-night?" I asked. twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. bird of prey. "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's noble correspondent could be. the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, dramatic, in fact." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into It was close upon four before the door opened, and a chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. less than 26s. 4d. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Which surely he restored to their owner?" but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and purpose of examination. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Here?" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is gigantic client. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "And why?" our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was time." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Pray let us have it, for all that." companion. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge page at http://pglaf.org direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you which should have the effect of calling the attention of the advice." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, upon the white wrist. the warnings." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event he. "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was Mrs. Toller serenely. your sleep?' low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "The Coroner: What do you mean? ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "No, finished." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the arms and began to sob in a high treble key. over with notes and figures. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, was a perfect sample of the class. families. Now for the facts. chance at all." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of sneer upon his pale face. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have question," said Holmes, smiling. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the coronet in his hand?" fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie some water from a caraffe. "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert young Openshaw's." envelope. "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind are, I think, all that we need." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am noise which awoke you from your sleep?" delirious. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had highroad, where all traces were lost. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We not use it unless it is absolutely needed." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the to you." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has train.' out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered bed dies. Does not that strike you?" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if that I may have something better before very many minutes are more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" fact, we may call it conclusive." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is entirely lost his self-respect." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Yes." not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "It is no ordinary one." "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "'Very good.' dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "A thing like a cleaver," said he. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight deduce something from that?" "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "Did you become engaged then?" "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, constraint." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. of the one which your family is now devouring." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, money should be paid at once.' matter over." "He said that you could solve anything." shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few way in." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, "Have you her photograph?" have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "Whose house is it?" how narrow had been my escape. cup of tea. what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further married her." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "'Is 4 pounds a week.' It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "What will you say?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special