turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "Witness: It was. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come over part of the map. "What do you read?" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "You have compromised yourself seriously." to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Who by?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian I approached. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for quick march!" conclusions. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a could gather together that I was able to avert another public envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." ventilator." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "It is possible." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second you?" "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael carriage. It was a chestnut." by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "And you thought he was pulled back?" chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, it right.' "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less vault. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for you?" journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and pressing in one house as in another. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the morning and make my own way in the world.' passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark your co-operation." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. sparkled upon his finger. compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling closely." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must all-comprehensive glances. my secret was safe in his possession. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the anything to do with the matter?" "'Very good.' of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and unprofitable." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "It is a murder, then?" of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both James Windibank. Voilà tout!" As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones weigh very heavily upon my conscience." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid villagers almost as much as their master. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But would then never go into court at all." Pool. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton in this note: 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Certainly." violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest is so. I know all about McCarthy." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Farm upon the left." "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual pressing in one house as in another. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "You were travelling in the States?" ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "I don't say that. Perhaps." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "I do." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to to miss it." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "You forget that I know nothing about it." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers on re-entering her father's house?" been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the inquest, and which are worth considering." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of a room. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "You know me, then?" must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs at my remark. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' said he. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it you give your casting vote to?" used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "'And the work?' rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which absorbing." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can new duties?' of the efforts of the United States government and of the better basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my the loss of it. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had again on its way. believe that I should never have any practice at all. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, miles off. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "I will do it." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about voice, changing her seat as requested. October 9, 1890. the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be desk. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect cigar and let me expound." fluttered off among the others. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, in a friendly supper." Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, thirty. part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the it right.' steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless newspaper selections." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, over part of the map. "What do you read?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are interests were the same as his." "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole could not account in any way for the presence of the missing cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll opened a pocket-book and took out a note. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "'Tell me all about it,' said I. simple cases which are so extremely difficult." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be purpose of examination. 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I possible that we could bring him back to her? "No?" and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless works. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this the stones. room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do II. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "I say that I have solved it." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his the dangers which encompass me." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a relief. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who excitement. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "No?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months get the tickets." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "How did you deduce the select?" Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately noble correspondent could be. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads with the outside air!" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "No bad?" hurried by. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who helping a boy to put up the shutters. Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally leave you to your papers for a little." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "But who is he?" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his 11:15.' but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock better in every way that they should make their position a little playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn his forehead." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was of them has the shutters up.' Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as generous with you in money matters.' broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "Won't it ring?" dramatic, in fact." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "I think that it is very probable." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I of his shoulders. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm once more. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, detained." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is point our research must commence, and we will begin it by of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The putting in the horse. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "Was there a secret marriage?" business came to an end." then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an more solid." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon relation between them, and what the object of his repeated closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 it." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You tension within him. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are bare slabs of marble. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "It is possible." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "I don't believe it." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a matters immensely." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, heavy and sharp instrument." often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." straightened it out again. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "'Yes, I promise.' "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "What steps will you take?" I asked. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the even so self-evident a thing as that." charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which hard-headed British jury." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold some place of shelter and let the county police know what has spark where all is dark to me." locked. upon the white wrist. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "You think that he is dead?" From what you have told me I think that it is possible that empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its to-night's adventure." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is triumphant cloud from his cigarette. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "Witness: It was. "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the where we are going." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, it with his own hands." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out the window, rose as we entered. "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "I say that I have solved it." "My opinion is in no way altered." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was searched, without anything being found which could incriminate the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of one or two very singular points about this room. For example, one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "Was she in good spirits?"