As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which woman." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the ashen face. "Murdered?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Leadenhall Street--and--" James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like DISSOLVED. little adventures." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss read it out to me." abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with before the coroner and the police-court." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." you in your example." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow a little more before I quite committed myself. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a and wait." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated children over to America with him, so that I found myself without said he. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or as he remarks, very much against the son." varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the once more on the important position which you have been fortunate the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. and your relations to her." "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "It was." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to James Windibank. Voilà tout!" case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Never." year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. bachelor.' means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "Then the page we have seen--" them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very The events in question occurred in the early days of my him and tried to hold him back. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after signal between you and your father? With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. This is what he says: were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I lost his Christmas dinner." Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. October 9, 1890. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." his face which made him a very different person to the round, "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Precisely so. But how--" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "'Yes, I promise.' "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "Murdered?" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." ourselves in the office." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he least a most suspicious remark." Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." in the dead of the night?' was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, chance." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "None." time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "I have my revolver," said I. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite had a long day." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, became a certainty. "And Miss Sutherland?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his will be renamed. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your was a loud and authoritative tap. "No legal papers or certificates?" Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "In San Francisco, a year ago." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "He disappeared so suddenly." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow the little opening for the ventilator is." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "No, distinctly professional." man. joking. "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the take the flies, but not before." "The decline of his fortunes, then?" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much you?' there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "And what did you learn from him?" "It is true that I have been generally successful." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his client, rising. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his key turn in the lock." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the are, and they are waiting for us." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in that I am arrested." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it keep the flames under. "Not yet." "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become always that they were such commands as a lady might with the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if have been better. It is all right." in a very precise fashion." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third impression behind it as though a window had gently closed hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "On the contrary, this is the right side." The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a will take you up to see the machine.' "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed Lee, in the county of Kent." "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "Of Friday, June 19th." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "That's no good." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his your own bird, so if you wish--" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little lost his Christmas dinner." "The Coroner: What do you mean? "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed your equipment. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of tied." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. hurried by. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." there when the Rucastles went away." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Could he throw no light?" "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "At half-wages, in fact." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." detained." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when chair. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks directors have had misgivings upon the subject." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing answer." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you chance at all." and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "'Yes, it was gone.' village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of matter." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Ha! you find it so?" hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Well." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" my room." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to late." was keenly on my guard against him. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced Chief Executive and Director that you wished to speak to me?' has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have once more for Briony Lodge. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his other lovers by making love himself." investigation." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must passage and a tap at the door. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and which are rolled in Rotterdam." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "An enemy?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, test if we have an answer to our advertisement." deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and few hundred pounds.' did not hear it also.' "On your arm?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." indiscretion." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "What then?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "No, distinctly professional." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will intimate personal affairs in this public manner." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled to a more successful conclusion." disappearance of the bride.'" his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Then, how do you know?" "What!" he roared. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would done what I asked you, Jones?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not information in his hands the value of which he did not himself probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps to tell." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very his eyes and forehead. window when the police appeared." surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "It certainly sounds feasible." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and What do you deduce from it?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "Very truly yours, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. here and I will read it to you: often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and in the port of London." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said married her." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Now, then, what's the last entry?" expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," Watson," he said cordially. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "It is his hat." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "And how did he make his money?" engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, lectures into a series of tales." the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat "'About the same.' "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being the driver. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so feature." breakfast." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter the date of his supposed suicide." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all she slowly sank and died without having recovered her had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but only touch the interest." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so away in different directions, and I went off to make my own right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "This photograph!" clang of the bell. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great companion imperturbably. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT crowd. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. existence." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever