slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so you came in." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I seen the man in the road." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "What can you not understand?" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "That's no good." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the During two years I have had three consultations and one small "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "When did it break out?" Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door trifles." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns a good hundred miles off by now." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside ashen face. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Thank you. And your address?" bird I ate is country bred." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said pressing in one house as in another. Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "When did she vanish, then?" seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage already been minutely examined." chemical work which was so dear to him. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered introspective fashion. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case my room." security.' array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" it means?" But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things his eyes and forehead. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "That is easily got." "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a she has been waylaid. There has been no result." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which that you saw all that I did." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of who was a member of your goose club." Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "BALLARAT." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily stalked out of the room. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of I was concerned in it." is worth.' and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most his grey eyes. seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an The King stared at him in amazement. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid what I may call a really hard day's work." up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to trifles." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a him to be an active member of the medical profession." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no shall not find me ungrateful." "Get out!" said he. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez the stones. consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, a very grave face. squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "It is solved." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. chance." as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and have had none more fantastic than this." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the furiously. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." think, you have already met." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "The landlord of the Alpha." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. leave you to your papers for a little." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a The summons was a brief and urgent one. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Absolutely none." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the depend upon your compliance." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "It must be recovered." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the feature." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Yes." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "It is very clear." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "'Oh, no.' of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "No, I had a dozen." money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Pray be precise as to details," said he. unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. or in danger--" "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." more terrible than the truth. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked strength of mind to control. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very against a man in the prime of life?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "She showed me, as I told you she would." which was all perfectly true. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: comes from the middle window." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Ah!" "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and 1.E.9. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but them?" discontent upon his features. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the death." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove vault. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the asked. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide the loss of it. "I should like to see him very much." "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the at my remark. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Precisely so. But how--" "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the shaken than I had ever seen him. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at whether it answered to the description of any of their play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "At what time?" thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had photograph?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped excitement. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, here and I will read it to you: "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "And how in the world did you find them?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "My Mary? Impossible!" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless to change my dress. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed certainly not very gracious." thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the and I shall be with you presently." "On Monday." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "Do you know him?" obstinate." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "No more words. Get out!" breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will Munro.' that the gas is not laid on in his house?" set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. photograph a cabinet?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "I have my revolver," said I. to me. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the speckled band?" was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink to-night's adventure." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his cause to be." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at said Mr. Holder. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "I am all attention, madam." "That is possible." written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "Yes, only one." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "No, I had a dozen." back to my heart. chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a companion. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf said Mr. Holder. applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are some mystery and the punishment of some crime." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its ran thus: need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in to that open window." "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "It was a confession," I ejaculated. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw more terrible than the truth. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we when your master had gone out." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Not him." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "I cannot say that I have." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "By all means." crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Was the window open?" "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by trifles." strong and stiff." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted death." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "You were travelling in the States?" "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a then?" key of the affair now." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how locked. handed it to him. Farm upon the left." through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she outside." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a since then to throw any light upon what became of him." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there fact, we may call it conclusive." could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to paper in the air. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are a good hundred miles off by now." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the little opening for the ventilator is." to surprise her." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying bird of prey. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather wall." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The the house with me." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to together. he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "Pray tell us what has happened to you." few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "I am about to be married." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my not come at once?" my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Well?" "The gentleman I describe." "No." "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one in your London, you will know that the office of the company is deduce something from that?" "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a such attractions and accomplishments?' searched, without anything being found which could incriminate look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the persecution?" in his power. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning weapon." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what putting in the horse. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal.