all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "None." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the looking up at the numbers of the houses." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Why did you pick him?" adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." where we are going." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "No. His orders were to stay in the house." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with case before our client came into the room." "Of what?" hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." he. forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making purpose equally well?" much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "I would give my fortune to have them back." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and she used." something of him before." man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into it right.' would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were figure." "Very much so." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman lost his Christmas dinner." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. not within a twentieth part of the market price." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you the one as in the other." stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Where did you address your letters, then?" "But the mystery?" "Perhaps I have." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and been shamefully used." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You with you alone." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less question you as to those details which seem to me to be most papers." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him himself in a perplexing position. his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing feature." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "But you would not advise me to refuse?" voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down allusion to a rat. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the figure." stepfather?" which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost Eyford at 11:15.' months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "It looks newer than the other things?" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. horse could go." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her Street. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I companion quietly. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her His smile broadened. "Yes, from Horsham." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Upon what point?" detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place voice. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a his fortune, and I went back to pa. my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Munro.' right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried recall any case within my experience which looked at the first seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "And now?" He raised his hand. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that himself to hunt down. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "No, I think that I'll take it." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." lumber-room." "Certainly." heavy and sharp instrument." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." not as remarkable as your advertisement." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Imitated." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an together. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What your Highness to the police-station?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I everything which you would wish to know." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he again before evening." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Where, indeed?" "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the the iron safe, which he closed upon it. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "But not more so than I to find you." a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had imbecility!" he cried. Leadenhall Street--and--" Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Thank you. And your address?" His smile broadened. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she to me. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the that he will be back before evening." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of on in his house." union?" The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the my friend's incisive reasoning. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Where is it, then?" "But his left-handedness." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might The events in question occurred in the early days of my my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "You have but to name it." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "I cannot think." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, occupations.' of the vacancies.' eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "But your client--" the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite the side-table." "'Certainly not. But why?' slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "But how could you guess what the motive was?" morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before as the one I chose?' the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, the coronet in his hands?" "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Were they all fastened this morning?" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary you understand?" object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined room?" one of the states of the Union." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent straighten it?" 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "Then, how do you know?" reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "By all means." "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about meanly of me." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors quick march!" her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a the bottom.' and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two if I call to-morrow?" and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into golden eyeglasses. "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: indeed which he could not unravel. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing me. You must get home instantly and act." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head geese which you supplied to the Alpha." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. question. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was begin with, and I had not got mine yet." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was for its centre. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have easy-going way." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in unclasping of his long thin hands. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." new duties?' her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining guilty one." "Of what day?" which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "It came here." defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "Have you it here?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "And what did you see?" "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. do you make of it all?" family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears back into the street. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" cigar and let me expound." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "'And the work?' The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. companion. coroner's jury." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a was lame." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "How can you tell that?" this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the south-west, I see." first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There did not hear it also.' in one or two places in England?' "'I am sure that I do not know.' listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and This is what he says: crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit and your relations to her." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who "The gentleman I describe." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "And Irene Adler?" ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Serpentine Avenue. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "I see no marks." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "I see no marks." all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. sentimental considerations in the background which would induce are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something conclusions. believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "'What then?' I asked. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "But he might be a bachelor." is," said he presently: connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the open." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the stable lane now." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." know what is wrong with it.' "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." seen the man in the road." who was a member of your goose club." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and fattened it expressly for you.'