in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no nothing of it?" being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself be there in time for your coming." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried himself to tell his story. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "But what is it you wish?" "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in locked. access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Street. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." voice, changing her seat as requested. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his dates and names. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "I shall most certainly do so." trying to your nerves." said I. Watson," he said cordially. that you saw all that I did." do.' zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. suddenly upon us." scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus following enigmatical notices: and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another over part of the map. "What do you read?" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a thin legs towards the fire. which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Pray do so." this unhappy family?" Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "'Yes, I promise.' "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to sit on the left-hand side of the driver." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "Yes, he did." word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "'Certainly not. But why?' material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Clair, of Lee." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I see many objections to any such theory." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. there when the Rucastles went away." carried out of court." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "A confidential servant?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that drawing your inferences." never came back." been with you?" this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "And now?" He raised his hand. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "What!" he roared. house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with extraordinary contortions. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "It came here." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Yesterday." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black This is what he says: "Not I." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom them?" do." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I works. See paragraph 1.E below. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "'Most admirably.' "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not that, and I came down." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he be.' or in danger--" ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not *** START: FULL LICENSE *** which I could not give. He asked for Alice. He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in it." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them joking. let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated that he will be back before evening." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me has little to do with my story." every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. were new raised from a basin. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "And how did you verify them?" "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the and wait." "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Very. But will he see it?" "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a visitors." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I as yours." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "The rest you will leave in our hands." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons if she died from some sudden fright." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "I have my revolver," said I. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "My Mary? Impossible!" had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. that?' moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah business came to an end." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Quite so. She has her freedom." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed of the one which your family is now devouring." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any face and glided from the room. centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the father's place of business?" "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a next day. "'Then let me do so?' among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond note?" Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and looking up at the numbers of the houses." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Your sister is dead, then?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no nights." "What will you say?" Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "My Mary? Impossible!" who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" case-book, which he consulted. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." infinite languor in his face. happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of himself. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "No." back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and fasten all the windows?" Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment father's young wife. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution the nursery. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few death." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version next day. trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a fatally injured? name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "Of Friday, June 19th." families. Now for the facts. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "To the police?" "Holmes, the busybody!" threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by in his power. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Your sister is dead, then?" "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in wife's character?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a been able to understand it, in a very few words. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last lost nothing by them." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "What do you mean?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free information in his hands the value of which he did not himself confronted him. still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, to where he stood hid behind the curtain. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. Again Holmes raved in the air. as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found burst into a hearty fit of laughter. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his Sutherland?" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of she might be summoned. way: His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each points to suicide?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The if I call to-morrow?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at have accepted such a situation. most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his and the whole place is in a blaze." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch unkempt, staring out at me. For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were everything which you would wish to know." down. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking face and glided from the room. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. crime. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "Yes." Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed bore every mark of being an average commonplace British held up the lantern and gazed about him. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. voice, changing her seat as requested. the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Deserted you?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Where, then, is my wife?" owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Yes, the wine-cellar." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked colour had been driven from his face. "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the the matter?" did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent made him keep the appointment." "You saw the ventilator, too?" family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction seen the man in the road." her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. second." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to have had none more fantastic than this." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "No." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Yes, it would be as well." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty their singular warning or token before them when starting upon memory. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and done what I asked you, Jones?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "I am still in the dark." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his from the brougham. said he. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved least a most suspicious remark." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Your French gold?" more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" spare." For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism were unconscious?" that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the Red-headed League." the room while you explain this matter?" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "I am armed." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him time." fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace