When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "Thank you. And your address?" muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the carriage. It was a chestnut." is so. I know all about McCarthy." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had directly by questioning you." system of imprisonment?" Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "Certainly, madam." be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in in. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard second." "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss Edgeware Road. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a tell them apart.' whole matter to your consideration." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "And now?" I asked. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of acquaintance?" "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, laugh and put his lips to my ear. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On walking." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" ready to-morrow?' call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that this poor creature." "'I shall certainly be there.' are windows in it, of course?" waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction and no precautions can guard against." gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that you for a few hours?" "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did the coronet in his hand?" Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened footfalls from the street. maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. certainly not very gracious." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, with you alone." him!" opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong where Mr. Fordham shows you.' Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is It may be so in this case, also." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his coroner's jury." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have crackling voice. public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that 11:15.' sooner or later she must fall a victim. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "I have my revolver," said I. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to I think that I could be of assistance to you." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a becomes even more simple." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by his cane at the bell-pull. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple legal crime." my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased lost nothing by them." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so congenial hunt. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, you." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite I leave." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. allusion to a rat. was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." people don't know." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "No." appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the absolutely follow my advice in every respect." "'Most admirably.' at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp as he remarks, very much against the son." gone. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "The vanishing of the lady." "I have my revolver," said I. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "ARAT," I read. "My photograph." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. be best to do. "My opinion is in no way altered." mysterious end." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" once more on the important position which you have been fortunate is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was until night should bring an explanation. posted to-day." to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, said he. dead, shall be safe with us." "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be floor. business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said there has been an enclosure here!" "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "What! a murderous attack?" impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "And when will you call?" of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the it with his own hands." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "Whose house is it?" "Then you may entirely rely on me." to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. all?" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the Gutenberg-tm License. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "Oh, yes, easily." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" there has been an enclosure here!" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "And how in the world did you find them?" we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "My dear Holmes!" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "I assure you that I am in your hands." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second this poor creature." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of pictures, libraries, or plate. dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Pool. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is address. Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much it." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your noble correspondent could be. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it to Leatherhead. morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to conversation I have gathered that they have been married about observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, roused himself from his reverie. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, point our research must commence, and we will begin it by now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from at once, for I have only half an hour." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "He is still with you, I presume?" back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, vault. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have before, for it was considerably after midnight. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our highly," said Holmes. in his hands." off." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "You have but to name it." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "'I am sure that I do not know.' really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every kind enough to tell me what I should do." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "The landlord of the Alpha." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' fait accompli?" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "'Where to?' streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may away to you." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." one which it was hard to resist. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it death." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in without a word or a look. away into the river." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be to arrive at through this?" at my remark. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent hard-headed British jury." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but attention." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you emerged. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She the very letters. But what is this written above them?' flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, has little to do with my story." villagers almost as much as their master. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of and wait." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of before, for it was considerably after midnight. ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of noise which awoke you from your sleep?" in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "And help." with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to meant." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my confronted him. endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "From his hat?" some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Indeed! Whose, then?" woman." not, dad?" she asked. "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that to-night?" I asked. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be sparkled upon his finger. took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the side-table." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." in this note: coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most DAMAGE. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed meant it for the best. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the "My dear Holmes!" free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "Then you may be so with me." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave guilty one." has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" charged with?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting threw himself down with his face to the pillow. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Did you become engaged then?" chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" may have an influence upon European history." been deceived." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all him to be an active member of the medical profession." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was do." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "I cannot think." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the over part of the map. "What do you read?" words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Thank you. And your address?" beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his me where it went to?" it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was congenial hunt. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads