know all about it," he snarled. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "What will you do, then?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both hard-headed British jury." "Thank you. And your address?" me. value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up his face which made him a very different person to the round, uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond whatever might befall. quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in neither fascinating nor artistic." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "But to whom?" had no one to advise her at such a crisis." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon of Mr. Rucastle's." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. promised to bring home. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "Have you her photograph?" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself green of the new foliage. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal congenial hunt. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Never." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the photograph?" mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "About a month then." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "Get out!" said he. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached Holmes' room. "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As figure." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after them?" "We have tried and failed." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently London for the present?" "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk subject to the trademark license, especially commercial I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the iron safe, which he closed upon it. was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the paper in the air. asked. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his it were putty." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you Literary Archive Foundation bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you cause to be." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one and inquire as to the address." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: This is what he says: "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean your most interesting statement." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Absolutely?" course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its one's self under obligations.' "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my voice. "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a six. Come in!" "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake showing my impatience. wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward tightly behind him. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "And why in hopes?" that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "Nothing." assist you in forming an opinion." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and his grey eyes. "To an English lawyer named Norton." Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Street. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his woman." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, ill-usage at the hands of fortune. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this I nodded again. "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there distance from the station, and there we found the young lady us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. his cane at the bell-pull. colonel looking down at me. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. she has been waylaid. There has been no result." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were are windows in it, of course?" England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated seen the man in the road." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out point our research must commence, and we will begin it by Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "And leave your case unfinished?" dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "No, thank goodness, she did not." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'Yes, it was gone.' married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil in one or two places in England?' Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford hardly wander." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads it." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was crime." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification what do you think they found in the pockets?" so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some room. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as your bag." morning." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "I see no marks." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, and your relations to her." indeed happy." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did Chief Executive and Director "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from records." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "When did she vanish, then?" came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with directors, with the result that you have seen." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "The murder was done with it." business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question fat-encircled eyes. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. shoulder. pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Pool. whatever might befall. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in morning." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept hurried away. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a him to go away.' Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." once more. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. of a light. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he The events in question occurred in the early days of my house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so appeal." "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable round with crates and massive boxes. Pope's Court. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall begin with, and I had not got mine yet." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "What! You do not mean bodies?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am prepare for the new role I have to play." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his ashen face. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business had a long day." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to me upon any point which I do not make clear." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "But she will refuse." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "I am all attention, madam." "'And the work?' "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during strong reason behind." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "In what way?" asked Holmes. the best of training." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from followed. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing bedroom door." took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of nice household for a young lady." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "Holmes, the busybody!" Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "But not more so than I to find you." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback electronic works of the one which your family is now devouring." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a you in your example." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "But how did you gain them?" this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "You were travelling in the States?" "No sign of it?" Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "But you can know nothing of this?" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have was a lad." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Pray continue your narrative." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know fashion which was peculiar to him. "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very with her." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes and it need not interfere very much with one's other "But you have hopes?" quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. himself to hunt down. secret." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Nothing." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped used to be." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when make me his representative both with the servants and with the set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "You don't mind breaking the law?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." I am not easy in my mind about them." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "You think so, too?" "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose What do you deduce from it?" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known whether it answered to the description of any of their "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a not use it unless it is absolutely needed." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime tell him that I know him to be innocent." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from just ask you whether you had heard it.' his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, man. money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. British peeress.'" I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Come in!" said he. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without 11:15.' that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you