his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Precisely." "My opinion is in no way altered." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted completely overtopped every other consideration that we both this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the ceremony." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Who by?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "And the murderer?" midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Does that suggest anything?" watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Clair, of Lee." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies I held the little printed slip to the light. theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "But you have hopes?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "The gentleman I describe." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." my former friend and companion. "It is half-past ten now." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "I am following you closely," I answered. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would populous neighbourhood." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & the best of training." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the swore that no one else had been in the front room during the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad confronted him. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country present." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven interest. They are important, you understand, without being "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "But she could not love him." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "There is the writing." hardly wander." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case of a light. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six him. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, and glanced through. in his power. the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical second window is the one that I jumped from." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There this remarkable episode. front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that his knees, staring into the fire. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Where, then, is my wife?" face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR easy-going way." "No, I am descending." leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side direction." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices Mary, has deserted me." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." leave you to your papers for a little." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this one or two very singular points about this room. For example, without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "Entirely." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "She showed me, as I told you she would." in the port of London." I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no sit on the left-hand side of the driver." this poor creature." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get call for protection in the marriage market, for the present of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, way in everything. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Then you may be so with me." "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black business matters.' then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your whether it answered to the description of any of their "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." I held the little printed slip to the light. much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for been." these bleak autumnal evenings." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was third from London." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "You were travelling in the States?" keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Here?" already been minutely examined." "Your presence might be invaluable." "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less astonishment. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' there when the Rucastles went away." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and gentleman's clothes. middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" touch that coronet?' jewels which you have stolen?' "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Entirely." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we meanly of me." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "Yes, the wine-cellar." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Perfectly so." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Stolen, then." society." There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. wedding?" gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Witness: It was. and all of them with the keenest interest. very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them she used." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales take the flies, but not before." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "They are typewritten," I remarked. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Eyford at 11:15.' sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, row." "Breckinridge is his name." my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no you in yours." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that This is what he says: "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. might help us?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. look dissatisfied." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I not interfere, come what may. You understand?" brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." out." authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not until night should bring an explanation. through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the is acting for the best. hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "That sounds a little paradoxical." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "You think that he is dead?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we clang of the bell. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Heh?' "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time closely." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and despaired of." when you have done it." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in fish-monger and a tide-waiter." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch anything to a woman, for she would have her way." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "And I say east," said my patient. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired him, that man would not have given me such complete information "Yes." the window, rose as we entered. find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one himself. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a remarked. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" indeed which he could not unravel. deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as definite end. "Pray be precise as to details," said he. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "Do you receive much company?" he asked. without a word or a look. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "So I heard. You have him here?" on in his house." which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. the station." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Yes, only one." and your relations to her." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." strength." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an lumber-room." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an against a man in the prime of life?" in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out was keenly on my guard against him. man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Did your wife hear all this?" gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, carpenter." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Have you her photograph?" points to suicide?" once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. who was a member of your goose club." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, brain must have something in it." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend that I may have something better before very many minutes are Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six which our visitor detailed to us. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "A call for help, you thought?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought have been better. It is all right." people in all walks of life. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I experiences." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt you, my dear young lady?' "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered