after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will our word." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an *** START: FULL LICENSE *** arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Never." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "Well, some hundreds of times." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason visitors." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand fishes. you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have drove away. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan fishes. say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all conclusions. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank fled together." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some events than those which have happened in my own family." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, that would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Holmes, the busybody!" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Nothing." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the again before evening." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our coat-tails." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take bedroom door." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless with the outside air!" overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt she might be summoned. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat without success. At last the little money which I had saved began that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Witness: It was. retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "And what then?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & one or two very singular points about this room. For example, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "No, thank goodness, she did not." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his where we are going." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have friends, not even his own brother. "One of the highest in England." a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "I don't believe it." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of so far?" against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the retorted upon me, and I on you." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who better grown goose." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a I approached. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for dates and names. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to bedroom door." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness subject to the trademark license, especially commercial of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson "You have it, sir, just as it happened." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" because she had spent so short a time in this country that she charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have people in all walks of life. Sholtos." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter hopeless attempt at recovering them." moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the sparkled upon his finger. them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger sooner or later she must fall a victim. down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand the date of his supposed suicide." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a yards of it?' ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Have you her photograph?" diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Who was the criminal, then?" conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" salesman. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will visitors." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" the dangers which encompass me." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "'What then?' I asked. overpowering excitement and concern. takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster heavily into it. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To the so-precious time, but come!' paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the that threaten you." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of not use it unless it is absolutely needed." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." do you make of it all?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and been anything against him. He had for years been known as a photograph?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "Come in!" said he. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small you for a few hours?" I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." Munro.' most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their other means.' uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Literary Archive Foundation you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." never to learn it at all." has little to do with my story." directors, with the result that you have seen." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Always." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Yes, sir." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Mrs. Toller serenely. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "On the contrary, this is the right side." tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Nothing." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should from you?" dead, shall be safe with us." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I hard-headed British jury." gone before you can get him to hospital." business at Coburg Square is serious." the coroner come to?" laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little I leave." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of one of the states of the Union." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Seven!" I answered. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would than to us. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick I am not easy in my mind about them." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate anything to a woman, for she would have her way." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this and prosperity to your house. Good-night." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Not in a good cause." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Yes." suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the bedroom door." little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "We must have a cab." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until respectable self." and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped the stable lane now." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there The note was undated, and without either signature or address. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it row." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "But his left-handedness." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees you." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know showing my impatience. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known over here." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it head. So long, then!" shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached outside. hurried by. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This overpowering excitement and concern. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned in this way: American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, footfalls from the street. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after been with you?" gone before you can get him to hospital." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his fait accompli?" cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "A confidential servant?" ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "It is half-past ten now." individual and becomes the badge of a society." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Which are?" mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no discontent upon his features. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "'Yes, it was gone.' although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "To the police?" of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled http://www.gutenberg.net mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking the bottom.' girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "'I am sure that I do not know.' prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "Yes." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "'Yes, it was gone.' it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "I don't believe it." "Your French gold?" great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the man. "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, look dissatisfied." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "So I have heard." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the extraordinary contortions. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining before, for it was considerably after midnight. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in business at Coburg Square is serious." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me,