always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "You think so, too?" "How did that help you?" murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and affair. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "Breckinridge is his name." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you your equipment. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." crackling voice. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy troubles have been weighing upon his mind. this man was intellectual?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to yourselves in at night?" depend upon your compliance." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon page at http://pglaf.org him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a reach." meanly of me." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Seven!" I answered. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning other, as fresh and trim as possible. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect young Openshaw's." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "If I can be of use." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from experiences." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my visitors." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of spark where all is dark to me." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in Pool. shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose down. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young III. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. were wasted." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge meanly of me." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Where did he live, then?" "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Nothing." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Then I am your man." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of putting in the horse. "Yes, that is the Crown." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the name is different." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. here and I will read it to you: Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "When did it break out?" how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always his wife has ceased to love him." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you may have an influence upon European history." suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter you?" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "And why?" "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us despair." head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is minor matters until to-morrow." "Well?" "By all means." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, subject to the trademark license, especially commercial upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This other lovers by making love himself." back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. we went to search for him, face downward in a little While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly have an American origin." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will window when the police appeared." ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "We must have a cab." in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., to that open window." business." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an directly by questioning you." and it need not interfere very much with one's other silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "And on what day did he meet his death?" the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an sooner or later she must fall a victim. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "What then?" came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Yes." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled corner of the building. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches away into the river." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "No, I am descending." knowledge of the world." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy we went to search for him, face downward in a little cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. here." "Very. But will he see it?" being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which main points of my analysis." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From the house with me." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a was not a bird to be seen there. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to IS "And is that all?" these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, and laid it on the table. material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "But she could not love him." "Oh, fresh and glossy." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and felt the room to be a little close.' January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible just called myself is not exactly my own." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken see a sister of mine apply for." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the address that was given us in the advertisement. "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, ourselves in the office." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "My last client of the sort was a king." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Yes, sir." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Yes, it was twisted." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that was a loud and authoritative tap. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" Sutherland. know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may Farm upon the left." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I wedding?" "Very truly yours, of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "But what will you do?" there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My that the gas is not laid on in his house?" shall use the carriage to-night." the inquest, and which are worth considering." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "I see many objections to any such theory." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Never." Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, which it had come upon my father." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another of this gang." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "'I am sure that I do not know.' to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself politicians who had been sent down from the North. "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird to surprise her." matter." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "I am sure." "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Very. But will he see it?" "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "'Oh, no.' man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and not interfere, come what may. You understand?" was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Stolen, then." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should gbnewby@pglaf.org furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Yesterday." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we had picked up in the wood. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said round and wave him away like that.' this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its frequently gained my first real insight into the character of these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Certainly." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a arrangements." London for the present?" "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much From what you have told me I think that it is possible that Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "No, finished." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land lumber-room." "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Yes, he did." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose directly by questioning you." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so beg that you will break it off." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our retorted upon me, and I on you." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "Yes." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." For additional contact information: dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "You'll never persuade me to believe that." direction." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend your troubles." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, felt?" his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time washing it down with a long draught of water. "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow and the church but not where the lady lived." eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage wedding?" fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had minor matters until to-morrow." "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and a little more before I quite committed myself. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "No legal papers or certificates?" It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done upon a handsome competence. long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Yes, only one." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, wedding?" little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable have got?" We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "You are certainly joking, Holmes." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Pray do so." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "And when will you call?" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to window when the police appeared." of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an there were one or two details which were new to me. But the - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the nothing of it?" "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. answered with a sidelong glance. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley in your London, you will know that the office of the company is demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." cost them two and thirty pounds." himself to tell his story. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the loss of it.