such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year "You are certainly joking, Holmes." for the market.' "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Your presence might be invaluable." heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no writing, and yet I know it well." "I would pay ten." instituted." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most a very grave face. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to visitors." pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something could gather together that I was able to avert another public impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her advice." signal between you and your father? eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Married! When?" the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Really! You surprise me." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my quick march!" down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "And why?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." the matter." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast house for five minutes.' scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of points in connection with it which never have been, and probably his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had entirely devoid of interest." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, was a perfect sample of the class. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "No, I think that I'll take it." scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, outbreak?" between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "But who is he?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy papers on the sundial.'" was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Dr. Becher's." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "And the murderer?" to talk it over. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "If I can be of use." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of business in the City. She little knew what. Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with My friend smiled. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" during that time.' the south-west, I see." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be was feeling which was the fattest.' back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in distance from the station, and there we found the young lady in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Yes." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried "Very truly yours, mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was him!" word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." be.' authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which your troubles." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Pray continue your narrative." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in morning." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation delighted to hear it," he said. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You breakfast." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house speckled band?" breakfast." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "But how?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met been deceived." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of shoulder; "he's all right." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a married her." little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to will take you up to see the machine.' I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "'I shall certainly be there.' and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage appeared upon the scene." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from him!" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "What, then?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It had formerly been in part my own. "What will you say?" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in "Have you it here?" other, as fresh and trim as possible. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "In the cells." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "It is very kind of you." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and Arthur Conan Doyle dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project the matter?" never came back." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Thank you. Pray proceed." overpowering excitement and concern. yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few been anything against him. He had for years been known as a Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "What, then, did Peterson do?" gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of sake, don't!" I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "You have it, sir, just as it happened." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "My dear Holmes!" door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all unkempt, staring out at me. but preventing her from injuring another. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point I am not easy in my mind about them." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Arthur Conan Doyle This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." brandy and water within his reach. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Dark enough and sinister enough." depend upon my doing so.' "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Then I shall certainly come." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "No, but the enclosure is." which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was developed." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I McCarthy's innocence. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "How did that help you?" point our research must commence, and we will begin it by carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the she might be summoned. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a danger is over." the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were not as remarkable as your advertisement." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is spare." "And who is her maid?" so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about directly by questioning you." "What I expected to see." I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it least a fellow-countryman. towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, overpowering excitement and concern. us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in here and I will read it to you: the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "The doctor?" Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a and effective." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything see me here to avoid scandal." We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I when your master had gone out." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work upon the white wrist. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he been with you?" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from were new raised from a basin. meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." formed some opinion?" clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a disappearance of the bride.'" very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a his huge brown hands. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." digesting their breakfasts at home." pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope matters immensely." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt hour." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Yes." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away upon an income of about 60 pounds." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Street. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was easy-going way." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange strength." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "Dr. Becher's." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he one of the states of the Union." ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I main points of my analysis." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard as he remarks, very much against the son." "It is possible." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by his face. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your once more for Briony Lodge. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "But how will you look?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "Awake, Watson?" he asked. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for Again Holmes raved in the air. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "You will not go there first?" "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we happened." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "It is true that I have been generally successful." ceremony." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is and no precautions can guard against." quickly through a disagreeable task. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and