than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for furiously. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Witness: I must still refuse. "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." business." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are of your young ladies.' what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is pound a week." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses late." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look it." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" light and attacked it." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main once more to my work. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Texas, I think." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is his face. than was visible to me." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Well, but China?" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical II. "'I am sure that I do not know.' him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, lips." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "I say that I have solved it." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the the driver. "So I have heard." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. himself. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon Countess of Morcar's?" which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which into the bag, and made for the door. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "Then, how do you know?" his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him spark where all is dark to me." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport address. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now of note-paper. It read in this fashion: of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I tell them apart.' grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more and have this put in the evening papers." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander outside." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; a room. "Yes." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." letters?" "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come tied." great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "I am all attention, madam." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came What do you deduce from it?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary article?" with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion asked. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that not come at once?" "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. when you have done it." electronic works "Pray do so." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "No." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My as yours." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his little trying to do so much typewriting?" fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" compunction about shooting them down." soul! here is her carriage at the door." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, information in his hands the value of which he did not himself mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and and all of them with the keenest interest. James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may of fine shops and stately business premises that they really He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment back alive. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a I was concerned in it." when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is him." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious hurried by. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Yes, the wine-cellar." village inn over there?" "Witness: Nothing definite. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography at my own good fortune. "I know where it is." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "And the murderer?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "I am still in the dark." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Was she in good spirits?" similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all envelope. who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Then the page we have seen--" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "But you would not advise me to refuse?" into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as to a more successful conclusion." which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was derbies." "Certainly." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that a monotonous occupation." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened like gravel from a pit.' leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "You will not go there first?" centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You indeed which he could not unravel. "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in the little opening for the ventilator is." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "At what time?" was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; there were so many in the whole country as were brought together was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in habit of advancing money.' suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "Where did you address your letters, then?" our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the closing the door. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." me. You must get home instantly and act." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "Married! When?" Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "In San Francisco, a year ago." life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair some place of shelter and let the county police know what has solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Yes, it would be as well." "A confidential servant?" same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "I am armed." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set affection." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an charge against him will break down." in a very precise fashion." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your asked. of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never over with notes and figures. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, wife's character?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It carriage. It was a chestnut." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, in a very precise fashion." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us than was visible to me." from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair any." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" disappearance of these gems?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary as he folded up the epistle. empty. eat it." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society stood on the top of it. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his suddenly upon us." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" 'please.'" permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes colour had been driven from his face. out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "It came here." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "I was mad--insane." more solid." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND nothing of it?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going as this. Pray let me have the details." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the it." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley IS "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he have accepted such a situation. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the salesman. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "In San Francisco, a year ago." he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was here." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "But you were on a friendly footing?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "But she could not love him." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier The summons was a brief and urgent one. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will I am not easy in my mind about them." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "It may not come to that," said Holmes. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was instincts rose up against that laugh. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been and put his glass in his pocket. and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in mysterious business." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, said he. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at rat could hardly pass through." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their to tackle the facts." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "My dear Holmes!" "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check future lives." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he respectable self." "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' will he say when he returns?" "Look there!" said he. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the lamp. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round seven miles from Eyford Station.' and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "What do you mean?" undoubtedly my uncle's." from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin