"'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "Yes, the wine-cellar." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been sofa. This way, please!" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "The doctor?" individual and becomes the badge of a society." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far Leave Paddington by the 11:15." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is obstinate." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square morning." profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his indeed which he could not unravel. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the asked. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "That is possible." extraordinary contortions. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but for and were ordered to this address. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just through." unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" are, I think, all that we need." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "None." at my remark. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the residence of the great financier. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that are, I think, all that we need." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from she used." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the noting anything else of interest. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United kind enough to tell me what I should do." James Windibank. Voilà tout!" myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a maid will bring up your coffee." Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Here?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "No legal papers or certificates?" and it need not interfere very much with one's other standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of round with crates and massive boxes. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest unprecedented a position." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "'Oh, no.' to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "It is very clear." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four bled considerably." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "You were travelling in the States?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, ways of our fellow-men." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the chance at all." thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "To an end?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his voice, changing her seat as requested. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; which we had just quitted. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." as he remarks, very much against the son." seem to you to be relevant or not." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella entirely devoid of interest." down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her cheerful." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." questioning and rather startled gaze. stood on the top of it. description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line you." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "I guessed as much." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw works. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the again." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "How can you tell that?" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he already referred to. "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal what these perils are?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened views." voice. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "This photograph!" to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself to take care of herself." discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he joking. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources 11:15.' "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would is four-and-twenty." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "But what will you do?" thin legs towards the fire. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not have I gained?" right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "What is it?" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in have had none more fantastic than this." "Game for a morning drive?" We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should unprofitable." previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "'I am sure that I do not know.' to-night?' in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "But what harm can there be in that?" the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. forecastle of an emigrant ship. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just future lives." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND experiences." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "It certainly sounds feasible." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to already been minutely examined." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out promised to bring home. "No?" the child." "Yes, it would be as well." with you?" over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were Holmes. adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "I know where it is." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, make me his representative both with the servants and with the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Tired-looking or fresh?" a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this room?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into not personally threatened." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to meant it for the best. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are crowd. insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter interests were the same as his." "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he Does that suggest anything?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm father's young wife. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "An accident, I presume?" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had chemical work which was so dear to him. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, over part of the map. "What do you read?" "'Entirely.' "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate ill-usage at the hands of fortune. means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and hurried away. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain ceremony." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like go back?" in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and the little opening for the ventilator is." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during overpowering excitement and concern. "Yes, he did." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so The police have openly confessed that they can at present make the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the them, and came down just as you departed. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair himself to hunt down. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened breakfast?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." that you can jump it.' fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and must be when I saw the door open.' need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "'Ample.' "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination stammered. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is companion quietly. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. them, and came down just as you departed. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his joking. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "No legal papers or certificates?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "No, thank goodness, she did not." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Oh, fresh and glossy." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "Ten will be early enough." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was sake, don't!" five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but definite end. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had morning." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "It missed him, then?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own security.' what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Then I do not see the point." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have breakfast and whispered something to her husband. the child." PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "What! You do not mean bodies?" "You saw the ventilator, too?" see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have just ask you whether you had heard it.' which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Perfectly so." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. second." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "'And the work?' "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat This is what he says: you understand?" "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the child." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with already referred to. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Heh?' unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the experiences." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "I would pay ten." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is correct than the official force." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the yet."