THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, and looked back. McCarthy." Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the man. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was the date of his supposed suicide." and the colonel ushered me in. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But appeared upon the scene." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "I cannot say that I have." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "You did not overhear what they said?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the my friend's incisive reasoning. "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a instituted." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that relief. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very case-book, which he consulted. is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. once more. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "I am still in the dark." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him astonishment. he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly leave you to your papers for a little." at my own good fortune. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice status with the IRS. minor matters until to-morrow." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Stolen, then." "And how in the world did you find them?" present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it "'Quite sure, dad.' direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose will he say when he returns?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the to you." "And what did you see?" horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police have one." straighten it?" light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "He might." "Did you become engaged then?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' way: not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he plantation.' suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips weigh very heavily upon my conscience." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Not yet." "Well." lips." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and nights." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my "Perhaps I have." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to events than those which have happened in my own family." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, go--none." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches or other trace. But how on earth--" Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she hand, madam?" "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "I should be immensely obliged to you." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "And help." possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "I cannot say that I have." upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "Here?" lamp in his hand. It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob them present such singular features as the strange train of round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I must be when I saw the door open.' that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you empty. "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. other, as fresh and trim as possible. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes voice. reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "A client, then?" But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, see me here to avoid scandal." tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It me what he had done with the three missing stones. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body it right.' grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." my little problems." business matters.' daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and goes." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had it were putty." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed would apply.' his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to once more for Briony Lodge. "What of the rat, then?" work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will will be renamed. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off away to you." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which heavily into it. if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project "'You cannot say what it was?' against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Pray do so." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the the ceiling. Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "What will you do, then?" is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction in the hope of finding them." "None." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my said I. lost his Christmas dinner." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." you." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. just ask you whether you had heard it.' Gutenberg-tm License. done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer at my remark. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" system of imprisonment?" "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and to affect your life." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was views." Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, night.' said he. the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from there was no need for father to know." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "But he might be a bachelor." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Eyford at 11:15.' interests were the same as his." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable lost nothing by them." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual his huge brown hands. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this late." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when might help us?" presume?" 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, Leadenhall Street--and--" practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in corner of the building. and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the think that any burglar could have done. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him arms and began to sob in a high treble key. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "Imitated." with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's to me. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet derbies." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent carpenter." my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "The best possible." breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it Lee, in the county of Kent." and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" Street. Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the papers." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Bought." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" time." "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria the coroner come to?" When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it heavy and sharp instrument." him. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Pope's Court. "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" following enigmatical notices: VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "How did that help you?" and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Not particularly." "I am following you closely," I answered. fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, records." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate vanished into the darkness. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. forecastle of an emigrant ship. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire as the one I chose?' creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to congenial hunt. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his that you can jump it.' At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "Proceed, then." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you noting anything else of interest. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the photograph?" built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." himself in a perplexing position. "I have my revolver," said I. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual "I cannot as yet see any connection." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your the best of training." been lifted and conveyed somewhere." which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent this as likely?" from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made directors have had misgivings upon the subject." instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both