considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Then I can wait in the next room." in his hands." was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got next day. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had details should find their way into the papers. Inspector went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." empty. Pool. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "'Never,' said I. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have particular state visit http://pglaf.org time." "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. in his hands." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would ways including including checks, online payments and credit card side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Really! You surprise me." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in Holmes' face clouded over. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Won't it ring?" tear off another piece?' Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "None." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard cigars in the box." clanging. had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Which are?" the morning and make my own way in the world.' could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you his face which made him a very different person to the round, help us in this matter." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my friends, not even his own brother. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the Sutherland?" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so depend upon my doing so.' petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great weigh very heavily upon my conscience." redistribution. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still skylight. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." writing, and yet I know it well." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about is a common subject for conversation. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box waste of energy." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Yes, it would be as well." came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after brandy and water within his reach. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "It may not come to that," said Holmes. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair the iron safe, which he closed upon it. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are case-book, which he consulted. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" jewels which you have stolen?' "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, His smile broadened. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds one else, I think." him nearly every evening." gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small his wife has ceased to love him." "How are you getting on?" me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we business?" His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when the running down." had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Never." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you her also." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one way: anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an I was concerned in it." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring that I am arrested." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and best detective that ever lived. call you and give you the chance." you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will indiscretion." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "That is also quite modern," said the lady. the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by Leave Paddington by the 11:15." took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was until night should bring an explanation. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "A client, then?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Come in!" said he. Pool. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant it? Did I buy the geese off you?" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "I have come for advice." my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent how narrow had been my escape. to a light-house. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the felt?" "In which, sir?" time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Certainly." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that security.' Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. cigars in their mouths. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I felt the room to be a little close.' him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. better in every way that they should make their position a little livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography of your young ladies.' the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Yes, but only for you and me." your Highness to the police-station?" clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal were unconscious?" homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, paper in the air. opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet desk. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any room?" my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally direction." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you bore every mark of being an average commonplace British A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in to change my dress. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "And when will you call?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, from the brougham. corner of the building. been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to and your relations to her." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love as this. Pray let me have the details." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to lamp. twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. a monotonous occupation." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in to-night." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless States. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Will you bet, then?" "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and unprofitable." "Never." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "I see many objections to any such theory." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and affair. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in questionable one." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name carriage. It was a chestnut." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have my secret was safe in his possession. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Where, then?" signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. towards the blaze. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it The police have openly confessed that they can at present make glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "'Quite sure, dad.' himself to hunt down. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from "Then what has happened to him?" never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "You have compromised yourself seriously." from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and where she found matters as described by the last witness. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been his huge brown hands. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Have you it here?" "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis there in twenty minutes." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Never to return." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same upon an income of about 60 pounds." and wait." the so-precious time, but come!' utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the and all of them with the keenest interest. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they way: beg that you will break it off." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Witness: Nothing definite. "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Won't it ring?" society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. door?" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in asked. the bottom.' ventilator." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. quick march!" his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I fuss that is made over them." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just this unhappy family?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for the general public were present, then?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Lee, in the county of Kent." o'clock is it?" and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "And why?" St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the suddenly upon us." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in derbies." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones interested in these little problems, and since you are good "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very where we are going." very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a returning from some small jollification and was making his way breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the business in the City. She little knew what. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "What I expected to see." corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at James Windibank. Voilà tout!" hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "By no means." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his followed. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than You can understand that this register and diary may implicate whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are