abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for call for protection in the marriage market, for the present into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very cause to be." "It certainly sounds feasible." better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the This is what he says: swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has at a side door. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "What then?" a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your salesman. during which he might have communicated with his friend the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not tell me that you intended to go into harness." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' "Just look it up, then." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "It must be recovered." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "And you can do nothing until then?" "Nothing." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! were unconscious?" "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Deserted you?" at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the him!" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up his huge brown hands. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR must be when I saw the door open.' assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which a suggestive one." him nearly every evening." "I am still in the dark." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "Then what has happened to him?" "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its as he folded up the epistle. that you can jump it.' forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a are windows in it, of course?" "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, in your London, you will know that the office of the company is the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord said he. this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Yes, they were peculiar boots." houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND desk. "'As governess?' feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to away to you." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "None." but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up lost nothing by them." breakfast?" suspect him." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly was the fact that his father should, according to his account, rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "She will not sell." which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "That is also quite modern," said the lady. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "And help." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than followed. it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in case before our client came into the room." details should find their way into the papers. Inspector down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had a monotonous occupation." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO of your young ladies.' understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing fishes. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when interested in these little problems, and since you are good should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. we went to search for him, face downward in a little "On Monday." "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "Where, then?" first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "And now?" I asked. Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "But how?" plantation.' His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "So I heard. You have him here?" "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend a very grave face. little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was train from Paddington which would bring you there at about cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, electronic works world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "'I have heard so.' tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "How did you deduce the select?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few companion. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour union?" poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Yesterday." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been jewels which you have stolen?' week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to quite distinctive." "'Most admirably.' "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch and effective." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Then what has happened to him?" even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method be.' towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, and the church but not where the lady lived." some water from a caraffe. "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "No." "Of what day?" "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." are, and they are waiting for us." uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. at a side door. "'Then let me do so?' "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' thin, with a long, sharp nose?" companion quietly. ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, ways of our fellow-men." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he bore every mark of being an average commonplace British great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to that I can to serve you." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "I do." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "'Yes, it was gone.' conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." this as likely?" seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has upon a handsome competence. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "But how?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice fattened it expressly for you.' he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who nice household for a young lady." Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come me have 200 pounds?' writing, and yet I know it well." know that the truth is known." that I may have something better before very many minutes are "Do you know him?" dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment noble correspondent could be. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of someone who had been in Australia." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Two days later this same performance was gone through under accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate criminal. We have already had experience of such." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Yes. He waved his hands." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped get her out of the way." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, better grown goose." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "It is his hat." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I was already answered. to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the your most interesting statement." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "I should like to see him very much." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with said Mr. Holder. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Street. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his official police." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "What have you to say now?" Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler beyond words. evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a maiden herself was most instructive." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Won't it ring?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "The murder was done with it." to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "My dear Holmes!" lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Precisely so. But how--" there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the even so self-evident a thing as that." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I upon a handsome competence. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by minor matters until to-morrow." your billet.' into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "Certainly." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have questionable one." in his power. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." to surprise her." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "What!" he roared. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "The doctor?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" there has been an enclosure here!" side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Stolen." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the recover the gem." 1.E.9. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must shall not find me ungrateful." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was appeal." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Deserted you?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of heavily into it. You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick "Not I." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a fashion which was peculiar to him. "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way one of them." "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on have established a very serious case against the son of the place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "But you were on a friendly footing?" get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary second window is the one that I jumped from." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. just called myself is not exactly my own." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "And help." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the very morning of my second wedding." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "By train from Waterloo." charge against him will break down." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't companion.