the coronet in his hand?" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up your billet.' by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper returning from some small jollification and was making his way not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as made him keep the appointment." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. case before our client came into the room." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I the coroner come to?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "She walked into the breakfast-room." "'Tell me all about it,' said I. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "Your presence might be invaluable." "But how will you look?" details." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it trifles." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from most important business. It is probable that he will be away all The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. in a friendly supper." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to already been minutely examined." man. I know him from the photograph." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "How on earth--" directors have had misgivings upon the subject." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running joking. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "Yes." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "I should wish to." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent me. memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the manager. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have along the entire front of the house, with three long windows moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it little trying to do so much typewriting?" "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "'Where could I find him?' from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Pray do so." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our so.' My friend smiled. said Mr. Holder. "'I have already given you my word.' human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "But how will you look?" hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he could not have written that. It is the German who is so the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the which I could not give. He asked for Alice. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he and your relations to her." British peeress.'" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he where Mr. Fordham shows you.' wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a minor matters until to-morrow." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated think that any burglar could have done. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." chance." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and emerged. agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Did you observe the colour?" relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Where, then?" as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked has little to do with my story." "On your arm?" pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Have you it here?" colour had been driven from his face. "I should wish to." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "No sign of it?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. will take you up to see the machine.' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "Dirty?" enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "My last client of the sort was a king." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found always that they were such commands as a lady might with sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason open." no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in ill-usage at the hands of fortune. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the with you?" long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of locked." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most like that before?" had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no carriage. It was a chestnut." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "And when will you call?" the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "What then?" you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw death." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. there." that there was nothing in it, after all." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass of it with the greatest attention. certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge future lives." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, some terrible trap for her." politicians who had been sent down from the North. the loss of it. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry Literary Archive Foundation once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "An enemy?" Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." lamp. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more taking in every detail of the apartment. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Nothing." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel Holmes' room. "Has he come with you to-night?" "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That have not had my rubber." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in might help us?" "But to whom?" We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "'And the work?' there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become and all of them with the keenest interest. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "By train from Waterloo." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or drawing your inferences." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some have one." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "And you thought he was pulled back?" you in yours." "Did you become engaged then?" seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped Lestrade of Scotland Yard." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring astonishment. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." straightened it out again. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on of campaign. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main most important business. It is probable that he will be away all Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, enough to aid us in our search." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, tail." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa Serpentine Avenue. There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found wanted for ourselves." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "He slept on the premises." overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the The summons was a brief and urgent one. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, think that he is innocent?" drove away. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of present." all?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you delirious. "But you would not advise me to refuse?" together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal kindly on the shoulder. "I am armed." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! were wasted." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not it." chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his daring than any effort of the imagination." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "'And the work?' "I was mad--insane." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for mysterious end." me have 200 pounds?' feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. with her." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a knowledge of the world." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Will you go?" towards the blaze. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "No sign of it?" India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Very well, sir. And this stone?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all three fields round his house, and there he would take his wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "And I to find an enemy." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can case before our client came into the room." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "Yes, they were peculiar boots." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Ah!" with her." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "My last client of the sort was a king." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "They are typewritten," I remarked. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. main points of my analysis." During two years I have had three consultations and one small those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "'And what salary do you ask?' front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in License. You must require such a user to return or McCarthy." where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "Yes." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his before the coroner and the police-court." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "Bought." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser will take you up to see the machine.' light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. Holmes' room. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at out of this horrible affair." "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I have a cab outside."