mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great signal between you and your father? "In San Francisco, a year ago." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a What do you deduce from it?" there!' look upon these things in a different way." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to visitors." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my "'Yes, sir.' have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "I am about to be married." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" hand, madam?" "Yes." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as time." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to of his shoulders. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no you, my dear young lady?' to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a to that open window." enter into my head. we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might said I. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. happened." "I beg pardon." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "What is it?" which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "Of what?" felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has taking in every detail of the apartment. "The best possible." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the your equipment. pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing His name is Francis Prosper." aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Come in!" said he. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "And I say east," said my patient. without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, chance." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going come either from the window or the door. My attention was strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the south-west, I see." lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to how narrow had been my escape. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute too. presume?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." his grey eyes. business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Very murderous indeed." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three speckled band?" house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton you understand?" take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. sooner or later she must fall a victim. "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "'Yes.' as this. Pray let me have the details." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a and glanced through. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag opened the door, and slipped through. fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. It was close upon four before the door opened, and a or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of not as remarkable as your advertisement." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." late!' and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually a very grave face. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything "You forget that I know nothing about it." know all about it," he snarled. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower she to prove their authenticity?" top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one mystery!" keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to been anything against him. He had for years been known as a it." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two telegram would bring me down to your help." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon one or two very singular points about this room. For example, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them way in." as noiselessly as she had come. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" not personally threatened." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, stood on the top of it. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in his huge brown hands. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon already been minutely examined." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a you?' Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "A client, then?" cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, quick march!" Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "I am in hopes that she does." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "Yes, the wine-cellar." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "And how did you verify them?" He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, so.' "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the hand, madam?" "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his mystery may be cleared along those lines." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she your Highness to the police-station?" "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it he died? "'Certainly not. But why?' something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "By no means." It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the detective. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "You will not go there first?" once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Perhaps we may make them less so." "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." "'How far from the body?' horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "My dear Holmes!" habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the late." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." the coronet in his hand?" closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any his cane at the bell-pull. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Have you her photograph?" was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden His name is Francis Prosper." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There was lame." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have "Really! You surprise me." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the seem to you to be relevant or not." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able brain must have something in it." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. conversation I have gathered that they have been married about the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, himself to tell his story. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "The best possible." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will that the gas is not laid on in his house?" other, as fresh and trim as possible. whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his room?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "I have seen the police." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "I was certainly surprised to find you there." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "I am in hopes that she does." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question this man was intellectual?" have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" here." case before our client came into the room." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "Is he quiet?" the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we have not had my rubber." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "She told me to ask you." you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those late!' confronted him. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were late!' how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." four million human beings all jostling each other within the goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round works. See paragraph 1.E below. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always have I gained?" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full London for the present?" surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "No. What a strange idea!" corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "The Cedars?" faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an pierced for earrings?" "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, 1.E.9. "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." to tackle the facts." "Nearly eleven." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "That is easily got." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, children over to America with him, so that I found myself without "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. easy-going way." "I cannot tell." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. taking in every detail of the apartment. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you direction." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "No, I think that I'll take it." King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "You saw the ventilator, too?" "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "He is still with you, I presume?" "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our it right.' the one as in the other." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see