transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a that, and I came down." "To an English lawyer named Norton." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm matter over." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal The police have openly confessed that they can at present make be. propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. Street. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the mystery may be cleared along those lines." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which you?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Holmes." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a disturbance in my wife." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "What office?" was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "Certainly." twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." been with you?" simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a one of the states of the Union." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and think that any burglar could have done. matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you go--none." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end to where he stood hid behind the curtain. red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." new acquaintance to Baker Street. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he are, and they are waiting for us." I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. nonsense.' forebodings. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Then you may be so with me." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "And when will you call?" pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with sufficient punishment." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" My friend smiled. "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence bled considerably." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Yes." is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "The King of Scandinavia." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid The King stared at him in amazement. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I that you wished to speak to me?' as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "You think so, too?" to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that drove away. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a that you wished to speak to me?' the station." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" on re-entering her father's house?" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing think that any burglar could have done. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "A greater distance to travel." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "There is the writing." business at Coburg Square is serious." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and is so. I know all about McCarthy." Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his to affect your life." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Then I am your man." gives a meaning to it." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Nearly eleven." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "And who is her maid?" "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the soul! here is her carriage at the door." closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "And now?" He raised his hand. his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences sufficient punishment." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Well, it is a possible supposition." Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, walking." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are of this gang." certainly not very gracious." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have completely overtopped every other consideration that we both It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain experiences." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each until night should bring an explanation. "Did he not advertise?" small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of shoulder; "he's all right." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "How did you deduce the select?" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not "Entirely." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Not in the least." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. at home. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "If so, much may have happened between." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, delighted to hear it," he said. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." fear." learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "What is it, then--a fire?" "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, humiliation." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, the station." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from children over to America with him, so that I found myself without into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project distance from the station, and there we found the young lady telegram would bring me down to your help." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be hereditary King of Bohemia." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Witness: I must still refuse. once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, woven round him. no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "What can you not understand?" envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited with frightened eyes at his accuser. road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch get the tickets." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his our word." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a bell. Holmes whistled. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking that?' XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but be. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "What of the rat, then?" and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a it." had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my written, and locked the door of the office after me. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "I should be immensely obliged to you." as noiselessly as she had come. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "And what did you learn from him?" jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and to change my dress. the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "One?" "You are certainly joking, Holmes." window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened which we had just quitted. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "I should wish to." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can had picked up in the wood. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. useful material for showing traces. The double line a little though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of the inquest, and which are worth considering." to some other building. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. know all about it," he snarled. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that any more." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "Has he come with you to-night?" phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Very truly yours, house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "But what will you do?" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours forbidden door. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he thought that she would have been so carried away." might have a private word with us. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped were new raised from a basin. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "I will get her to show me." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these you in your example." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some done what I asked you, Jones?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "What of the rat, then?" The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that only touch the interest." this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "'There is a drive, then?' and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers of receipt of the work. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying thin legs towards the fire. offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. acted in my house last night?" morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. tell them apart.' five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "And how did he make his money?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "None." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads nice household for a young lady." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "At what time?" Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he wedding?" "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, second." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had possible that we could bring him back to her? "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' right! Sit down and let us talk it over." enter Dr. Roylott's room." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate ran thus: toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted call for protection in the marriage market, for the present Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." be. affair. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot you?" "Then I do not see the point." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than