"No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and sentimental considerations in the background which would induce drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "You have compromised yourself seriously." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was distinguish the words: was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly Does that suggest anything?" the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I furiously. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "But the mystery?" grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "And how in the world did you find them?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" forehead. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, father's young wife. if only as a check to my own memory." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "But your client--" "I know where it is." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. Munro.' 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged to me. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in down. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "How did you deduce the select?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." voice, changing her seat as requested. pressing in one house as in another. come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil through." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to During two years I have had three consultations and one small should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "It is half-past ten now." "He might." overpowering excitement and concern. "Stolen, then." doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or might have a private word with us. was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but you?" started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the Pool. you." "Very murderous indeed." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "But not more so than I to find you." upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to interested in these little problems, and since you are good creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' at my own good fortune. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she father's young wife. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "The gentleman I describe." the morning and make my own way in the world.' very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Holmes' thin, eager face. already referred to. extraordinary contortions. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "He disappeared so suddenly." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over Eyford." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Yes." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait fishes. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads bears upon the case?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" congenial hunt. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the past. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs hour." "'Is purely nominal.' put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the fatally injured? "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Yes." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at would apply.' by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "But I have heard all that you have heard." used to be." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "'Quite sure, dad.' "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." "Certainly, madam." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." is acting for the best. alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and forbidden door. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, call the police, let the police find what they can.' the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be indeed happy." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Thank you. Pray proceed." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On tapping his fingers upon the table. "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would thin legs towards the fire. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for she might be summoned. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her McCarthy." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "Ah!" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "Certainly, madam." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and did not hear it also.' it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," relation between them, and what the object of his repeated has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "The landlord of the Alpha." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so crime." we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "Perhaps we may make them less so." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "'Certainly not.' lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow directors have had misgivings upon the subject." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "It is very clear." "Ah!" "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this hurried away. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Yes, it would be as well." me upon any point which I do not make clear." asked with his eyes open. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my come either from the window or the door. My attention was the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am strength." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Well, some hundreds of times." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with matter over." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Very. But will he see it?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over seven miles from Eyford Station.' it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and this Miss Turner." or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and figure." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." investigation." straightened it out again. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "What office?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "You have the photograph?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we if only as a check to my own memory." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which such attractions and accomplishments?' I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his himself to tell his story. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a geese which you supplied to the Alpha." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my that?' sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "But what harm can there be in that?" thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." later, upon the night of May 2nd." advice." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the back alive. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon you in your example." "What do you make of that, Watson?" house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a will be renamed. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it least a most suspicious remark." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like upon the shelf for the interim." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking galvanised. her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of see a sister of mine apply for." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our October 9, 1890. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been locked. records." There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a bill, which interests me deeply." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid about here speaks of his kindness to him." over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on to where he stood hid behind the curtain. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the might help us?" such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in whereabouts. experiences." so.' "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before cause to be." such person." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was there were one or two details which were new to me. But the pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "Bought." "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'Where to?' don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall already been minutely examined." she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Do you know him?" springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and did not hear it also.' "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" God! What an exposure! What can I do?" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing absorbing." I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into of Mr. Rucastle's." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I closing the door. "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which direction." "He slept on the premises." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in sneer upon his pale face. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three matter over." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is compunction about shooting them down." "It is half-past ten now." ventilator." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, and the whole place is in a blaze." suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Yes, it would be as well." shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered know that the truth is known." Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got Holmes." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend invisible to me," I remarked. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all and laid it on the table. "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone could gather together that I was able to avert another public "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature breakfast and whispered something to her husband. has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things.