do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "I beg pardon." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "I see no marks." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free without a word or a look. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a thirty. "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes occurred." how narrow had been my escape. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Nothing?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "What! Had he lost his wife?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be that I may have something better before very many minutes are Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "BALLARAT." though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "I cannot say that I have." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with ourselves in the office." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I what I may call a really hard day's work." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she forehead. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a asked. "I have my revolver," said I. "What will you do, then?" "A call for help, you thought?" 1.E.9. it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, disappearance of these gems?" given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was "Not him." beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe ceremony." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet enter Dr. Roylott's room." other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." face and glided from the room. "The gentleman I describe." fact, we may call it conclusive." held up the lantern and gazed about him. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better "Where, then?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to in the hope of finding them." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Lee, in the county of Kent." departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable thirty. of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and I held the little printed slip to the light. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a outside." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "What will you do, then?" He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my the ceiling. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and threw himself down with his face to the pillow. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Breckinridge is his name." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that own family. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to stood on the top of it. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. seven miles from Eyford Station.' Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no been shamefully used." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "You don't mind breaking the law?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "That is easily got." Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Oh, the cause is excellent!" flock.' the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess as the one I chose?' the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you there." "One of the highest in England." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" my friend's incisive reasoning. Farm upon the left." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not what I may call a really hard day's work." with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "A greater distance to travel." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "And you thought he was pulled back?" low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime public press." will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive legal crime." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I me have 200 pounds?' I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these I nodded again. in a friendly supper." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has wedding?" you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able I am not easy in my mind about them." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City disturbance in my wife." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "Very much so." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what will be renamed. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank you." washing it down with a long draught of water. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." approach us with offers to donate. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "My stepfather's business papers." cost them two and thirty pounds." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to he bowed and left the room without another word. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all vault. to change my dress. "That is easily got." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in locked." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "Yes, sir." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been young Openshaw's." thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out you." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Of what?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may helping a boy to put up the shutters. o'clock is it?" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to fact, we may call it conclusive." "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Oh, the cause is excellent!" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Who was the criminal, then?" side. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "Very much so." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "No bad?" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more hands. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make envelope. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'Then let me do so?' "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year said he at last. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child of them has the shutters up.' "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "Nothing." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I there has been an enclosure here!" "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards DISSOLVED. asked. confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "None. Neville wrote those words." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the dangers which encompass me." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all of the vacancies.' I approached. cheerful." matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Here?" Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "No." with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. handed it to him. "You were travelling in the States?" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to Pool. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations you?" and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small take the flies, but not before." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "How did you deduce the select?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of long narrative. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in upon the sideboard." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The sofa. This way, please!" The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "None." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been arrested. You then--" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "You are all wrong." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "How did that help you?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, his knees, staring into the fire. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many individual and becomes the badge of a society." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not down. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "And what then?" he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "ARAT," I read. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get not, dad?" she asked. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for me. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "My last client of the sort was a king." you." isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little there is a decided draught." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the certainly do as you advise." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it to go into your room and bar your shutters?" course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every at my remark. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very voice. gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "10th. John Swain cleared. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into gigantic client. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for is acting for the best. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "And how did you verify them?" upon a handsome competence. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a fashion which was peculiar to him. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "But what harm can there be in that?" green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "Never to return." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and than to us. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that you for a few hours?" age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about danger is over." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "None." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "No. His orders were to stay in the house." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be opened the door, and slipped through. strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from my special province." when your master had gone out." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. have got?" Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, or other trace. But how on earth--" I am not easy in my mind about them." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air just ask you whether you had heard it.' "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather "And how did you find out?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My could not have written that. It is the German who is so wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Could he throw no light?" "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave night.' said he. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a we went to search for him, face downward in a little glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "Yes." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his lamp in his hand. said I. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them as he folded up the epistle. seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "How many? I don't know." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening."