some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the house with me." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "But who is he?" The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an outsides of the windows. hurried by. "I cannot tell." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in confronted him. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "How on earth--" vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that again, where I was soon asleep. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "It goes to the housekeeper's room." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. you." "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Yes." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of quite distinctive." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it union?" "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' pictures, libraries, or plate. Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' conclusions. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "You horrify me." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "An accident, I presume?" "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that "'You doubt its value?' he asked. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Did he not advertise?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. whereabouts. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. good for you to do.' "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me approach us with offers to donate. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black away to you." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless meanly of me." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the that you saw all that I did." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt Project Gutenberg-tm works. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then over his head with a sweet womanly caress. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the row." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural detained." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up purpose of examination. "You know me, then?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the peculiar to him. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Just look it up, then." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for taking in every detail of the apartment. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it who was a member of your goose club." "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "What I expected to see." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Then the page we have seen--" father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "'Never,' said I. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one his cane at the bell-pull. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "I cannot imagine." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' him nearly every evening." "I cannot imagine." "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that there." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled electronic works "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did time." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my entirely lost his self-respect." head. So long, then!" them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" interests were the same as his." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical for the market.' "He said too much." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "Very murderous indeed." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to the Assizes." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his you." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your now. It seems that there had been some informality about their moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of wedding?" we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." indeed happy." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." DAMAGE. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a pierced for earrings?" "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as soul! here is her carriage at the door." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he into the room. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." other lovers by making love himself." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "How did you deduce the select?" of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. so.' graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Then the page we have seen--" could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "No, but the enclosure is." observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for James Windibank. Voilà tout!" It may be so in this case, also." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what conclusions. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and again." stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "What! a murderous attack?" "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story Pope's Court. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a not fit the lock." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "You saw the ventilator, too?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Pray let us have it, for all that." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." security.' the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt me where it went to?" "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "She showed me, as I told you she would." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "I am to be neutral?" and I shall be with you presently." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the him, that man would not have given me such complete information as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "'What, the red-headed man?' "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a meant it for the best. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending very morning of my second wedding." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Won't it ring?" as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' Literary Archive Foundation impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon The telegram which we eventually received came late one night to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the do.' undoubtedly my uncle's." "Then the page we have seen--" was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "What can you not understand?" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled his fortune, and I went back to pa. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips just called myself is not exactly my own." Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. is now desirous of getting those letters back." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I Young McCarthy must be got off, however." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." of his shoulders. other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "It must be recovered." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "My dear Holmes!" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Game for a morning drive?" followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "That is it on the dressing-table." I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his carpenter." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." father's place of business?" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. the matter?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "'A dozen yards or so.' unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "But how?" very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the seen the man in the road." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, placed his cuttings. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a to that open window." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "What have you done?" asked Holmes. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very the running down." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "And help." "We were both in the photograph." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Count Von Kramm." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "Then, as to money?" continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, unprecedented a position." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue with some details as to your case." breakfast and whispered something to her husband. not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to as the one I chose?' "Is he quiet?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If 1.E.9. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "'What do you call purely nominal?' indeed which he could not unravel. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There people don't know." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Have you her photograph?" greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm