noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "But how?" "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful down from London to inquire more deeply into it." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a shaken than I had ever seen him. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not anything to do with the matter?" guilty parties." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. sparkled upon his finger. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows only touch the interest." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that to a more successful conclusion." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to foot. gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." enough to aid us in our search." someone who had been in Australia." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "At half-wages, in fact." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Yes." worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no burst out into a roar of laughter. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity this remarkable episode. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able events, Mr. Windibank!" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by and the church but not where the lady lived." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." reach." kindly on the shoulder. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done rat could hardly pass through." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Of what?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "'Certainly not.' which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my important." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard away in different directions, and I went off to make my own there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" at once, for I have only half an hour." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "One horse?" interjected Holmes. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'What do you call purely nominal?' belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used passage and a tap at the door. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a chance at all." washing it down with a long draught of water. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "Yes, only one." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. always that they were such commands as a lady might with showing my impatience. him!" ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has whole matter to your consideration." might have a private word with us. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." there when the Rucastles went away." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the a monotonous occupation." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "The King of Scandinavia." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more had formerly been in part my own. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double to a light-house. The events in question occurred in the early days of my careless servant girl?" just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He cause to be." between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you me, and I could not think that his explanation of the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "No bad?" unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The be best to do. Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more instituted." Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "10th. John Swain cleared. it. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "And what did you learn from him?" my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay know what is wrong with it.' pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I here and I will read it to you: which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its once more. Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "The landlord of the Alpha." shall not find me ungrateful." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Yes." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor read over the extraordinary announcement. outsides of the windows. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET was used.' annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "I am all attention, madam." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "It certainly sounds feasible." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. the King without delay." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water cost them two and thirty pounds." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert a little more before I quite committed myself. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn presume?" could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He extraordinary contortions. "It looks newer than the other things?" to-night's adventure." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think place no limit on the sum I may draw." for securing the situation." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Yes?" "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, for the market.' The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a him. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that upon a handsome competence. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his My friend smiled. long narrative. his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "No, finished." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I the dangers which encompass me." at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we read over the extraordinary announcement. street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to tapping his fingers upon the table. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to and the colonel ushered me in. hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which the coronet at all injured?" and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "What are they?" "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." bearing upon the case." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies hopeless attempt at recovering them." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window pierced for earrings?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in over with notes and figures. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. is worth.' beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and interests were the same as his." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three outbreak?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "It is true that I have been generally successful." little adventures." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole chamber." article?" he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "And how did he make his money?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "By no means." whatever might befall. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Then, how do you know?" never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have sparkled upon his finger. tapping his fingers upon the table. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should I leave." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! neither fascinating nor artistic." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself window when the police appeared." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "In heaven's name, what for?" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and back into the street. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Come in!" said he. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us good-night and bustled off upon her way. You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our lamp. I nodded to show that I had heard. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away to affect your life." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with flock.' strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were all that?" "'And the work?' while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "I have my revolver," said I. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." morning." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Then, as to money?" Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" enough to aid us in our search." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his woman." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by of the efforts of the United States government and of the better upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. I nodded to show that I had heard. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "That also I could fathom." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Whose house is it?" "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening any little problem which you may submit to me." For additional contact information: is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "My dear Holmes!" quickly through a disagreeable task. hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We giving me time to thank him. I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He it? Did I buy the geese off you?" to that open window." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe in your London, you will know that the office of the company is little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, with frightened eyes at his accuser. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be than to us. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of character. spark where all is dark to me." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier of." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing in my life." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Come in!" said Holmes. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately take the flies, but not before." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "The murder was done with it." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Yes, all." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps