observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the one as in the other." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you my room." "One of the highest in England." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." his fortune, and I went back to pa. "But it has twice been burgled." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, matter." From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "My dear Holmes!" "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded it with his own hands." lectures into a series of tales." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of to Leatherhead. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." is four-and-twenty." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any strength of mind to control. Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "And why?" metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "Yes, but only for you and me." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "'I shall certainly be there.' problems help me to do so." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." hardly wander." "My dear Holmes!" mystery!" near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Was there a secret marriage?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do I have it here in my museum." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "By no means." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "What then?" present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at desk. the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full take the flies, but not before." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "Your French gold?" his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, and the church but not where the lady lived." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from for and were ordered to this address. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Certainly." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who all that?" door?" the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this fasten all the windows?" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is of the vacancies.' "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "And you can do nothing until then?" "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say how narrow had been my escape. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the served to weaken the effect. strength in the others." bedroom door." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and strength of mind to control. for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the washing it down with a long draught of water. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five despaired of." lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "But the mystery?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and did not hear it also.' it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' there were so many in the whole country as were brought together answer." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "10th. John Swain cleared. The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a absolutely follow my advice in every respect." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner hurried by. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them question you as to those details which seem to me to be most 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "'What would be the hours?' I asked. went to the Alpha were town bred." fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. something of him before." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But hurried by. I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "But his left-handedness." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save pictures, libraries, or plate. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a call it cruel." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "The King of Scandinavia." outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Witness: I must still refuse. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Pray do so." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even once more to my work. through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's had a long day." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is tail." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The of the efforts of the United States government and of the better in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was noting anything else of interest. of the one which your family is now devouring." hurried by. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the some place of shelter and let the county police know what has face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I she used." We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, three of the beryls in it, was missing. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be get the tickets." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have never to learn it at all." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the with the outside air!" hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and paper in the air. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the this man was intellectual?" who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. better in every way that they should make their position a little "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on there has been an enclosure here!" Count Von Kramm." "Your French gold?" "None. Neville wrote those words." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its even so self-evident a thing as that." essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "Then, how do you know?" tell him that I know him to be innocent." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "A client, then?" humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling you." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of might have a private word with us. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one was used.' your co-operation." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "We must sit without light. He would see it through the drove away. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite trying to your nerves." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I you?" giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "And it is--" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than presume?" "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some with you?" "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. had died away into the silence from which it rose. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "'Certainly not. But why?' Dr. Gregory B. Newby from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it will he say when he returns?" "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a "To an end?" - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you undoubtedly my uncle's." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." astonishment. DISSOLVED. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which call it cruel." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "An enemy?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: away in different directions, and I went off to make my own acted in my house last night?" "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "Yes, only one." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who Dr. Gregory B. Newby the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "What are they?" has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. have one." To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "But I have heard all that you have heard." say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "Yes, from Horsham." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "What have you done?" asked Holmes. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by some place of shelter and let the county police know what has Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his of your young ladies.' should be taken.' jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has dead, shall be safe with us." returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will business came to an end." you give your casting vote to?" 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "What do you make of that, Watson?" against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a of fine shops and stately business premises that they really Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of beg that you will break it off." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the morning and make my own way in the world.' however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" that there was nothing in it, after all." "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "No, finished." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "The Coroner: What do you mean? present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should not, dad?" she asked. "Whose house is it?" dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again you, my dear young lady?' manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a "And who is her maid?" "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "He slept on the premises." "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran whether it answered to the description of any of their "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a enter Dr. Roylott's room." which our visitor detailed to us. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, second window is the one that I jumped from." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in photograph?" suggested at once that there must be a communication between the muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "I think that it is very probable." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in this Miss Turner." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "My last client of the sort was a king." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an made his money." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his there!' Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Doctor, of the paper and the date." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "I am still in the dark." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." indiscretion." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy been able to understand it, in a very few words. sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard