it." delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged forehead. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had dead, shall be safe with us." secret." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The name is different." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a stalked out of the room. "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's delirious. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he said he. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "Witness: Nothing definite. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few in him." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Do you go out much in society?" should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed once more for Briony Lodge. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "What do you make of that, Watson?" "You did not overhear what they said?" flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "I cannot tell." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" and the church but not where the lady lived." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "Did your wife hear all this?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "I was afraid that you were engaged." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. you." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a new acquaintance to Baker Street. "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "'A dozen yards or so.' prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns union?" little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "But his lameness?" might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" I. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." purpose equally well?" "No. What a strange idea!" matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, forebodings. night.' said he. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower http://www.gutenberg.net learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "You have the photograph?" II. "You think that he is dead?" "No bad?" Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "I cannot tell." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Never to return." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to conclusions. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Yes." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the that threaten you." "So I am. Very much so." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which washing it down with a long draught of water. that he has suffered." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "That is unusual in a young girl." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "But she could not love him." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and experiences." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "How are you getting on?" before the coroner and the police-court." "'Never,' said I. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so relation between them, and what the object of his repeated Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." indeed which he could not unravel. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "The gentleman I describe." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "I promise," said Holmes. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "I should wish to." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." have had none more fantastic than this." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There overpowering excitement and concern. you came in." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged the so-precious time, but come!' "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "Look there!" said he. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "And how in the world did you find them?" that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. which was all perfectly true. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "My Mary? Impossible!" Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards bonnet, and went out." "It is no ordinary one." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "Nearly eleven." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off shoulder. ordinary clothes on?" attention." "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect Holmes." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Of what day?" considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up ready to-morrow?' shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for grasp, he hurried from the room. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm words came to my lips. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to done what I asked you, Jones?" ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a in this note: "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "Breckinridge is his name." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face noting anything else of interest. "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have "Why, what do you mean?" upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with matter." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "And that is--" lamp. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." October 9, 1890. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At down in his armchair and closing his eyes. pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. of Fenchurch Street." "So it appears." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always His name is Francis Prosper." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was exactly what you advise." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & London for the present?" "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical if I call to-morrow?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way nothing with him." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation 1.E.9. "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me ill-usage at the hands of fortune. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Why? What do you mean?" enter into my head. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew your Highness to the police-station?" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "Oh, the cause is excellent!" laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "When did it break out?" waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "What will you do, then?" "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "What I expected to see." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers rose-bushes. make me his representative both with the servants and with the compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "Did he not advertise?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "No good news?" as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She if she died from some sudden fright." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Of Friday, June 19th." "None." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a in the port of London." I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, only touch the interest." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the warnings." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, ago." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. unprecedented a position." "There is the writing." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "No." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Murdered?" the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." the Red-headed League." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and *** START: FULL LICENSE *** practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really best detective that ever lived. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' the driver. "You don't mind breaking the law?" hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. following enigmatical notices: are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her relation between them, and what the object of his repeated The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "None." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "And you don't know his address?" you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get held up the lantern and gazed about him. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "It missed him, then?" I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is generous with you in money matters.' pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have pound a week." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the that "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. fasten all the windows?" departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "I cannot tell." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace Chief Executive and Director "I think that it is very probable." "Your French gold?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's his face which made him a very different person to the round, One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called touch that coronet?' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "But it has twice been burgled." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram the window, rose as we entered. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we be there in time for your coming." tension within him. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a who was a member of your goose club." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough and I shall be with you presently." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "And you don't know his address?" result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "I am to be neutral?" "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" directly by questioning you." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to