tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we second window is the one that I jumped from." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in floor. remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "'About the same.' "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I may have an influence upon European history." you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece to tell." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began Holmes rather sternly. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Just look it up, then." Munro.' disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "How are you getting on?" shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Never to return." "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading girl said." any more." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, do.' "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in your billet.' good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' of the one which your family is now devouring." 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "'I am sure that I do not know.' hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "My own seal." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. your own bird, so if you wish--" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, question. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "The murder was done with it." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." than to us. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "None." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "And why in hopes?" have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for some place of shelter and let the county police know what has so.' had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "I fear not." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. bears upon the case?" "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the mysterious business." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Yesterday." which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "How do you know, then?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has have one." chamber." thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is heavily into it. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "That is it on the dressing-table." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry excitement. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for "None." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has returned to France?" came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger to tell." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "May I see it?" see me here to avoid scandal." hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that locked. and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "What, then, did Peterson do?" "I say it is." comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "No more words. Get out!" result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "'I have heard so.' slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and go from here to the Strand." indiscretion." "And I." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy his forehead." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. details." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom crime." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those the matter?" to a light-house. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "To an English lawyer named Norton." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Edgeware Road. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew in my life." 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "What will you do, then?" a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the bears upon the case?" away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a tell him that I know him to be innocent." familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Then I am your man." "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black "That you are never beaten." could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should papers on the sundial.'" just called myself is not exactly my own." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the weighed down with some great anxiety. cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "No, finished." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "How do you know, then?" "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the running down." back into the street. Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a bachelor.' Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the should be so warm over such a trifle." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the bears upon the case?" "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "He is still with you, I presume?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "That you are never beaten." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, This is what he says: the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as note?" o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a without success. At last the little money which I had saved began the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had best detective that ever lived. "Seven!" I answered. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "You have it, sir, just as it happened." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "What will you do, then?" "I have a cab outside." call the police, let the police find what they can.' Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she corner of the building. "No, I had a dozen." and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could in a friendly supper." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the works. See paragraph 1.E below. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. any." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident "No." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the it means?" in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. "Whose house is it?" "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing whatever might befall. "Which surely he restored to their owner?" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "10th. John Swain cleared. it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, will not take me long to tell. poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into highly," said Holmes. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the undoubtedly my uncle's." meant." surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my get the tickets." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the ordinary clothes on?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "And how did you find out?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has lips." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I gigantic client. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." to-night?' pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Could he throw no light?" Clair, of Lee." "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent experiences." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "What steps will you take?" I asked. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in over here." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From hour." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of not use it unless it is absolutely needed." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I be best to do. of fine shops and stately business premises that they really corner of the building. "Not him." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Dr. Becher's." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "I was afraid that you were engaged." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the results." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "Why? What do you mean?" brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would Sutherland?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you skylight. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried the matter." she might be summoned. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." absolutely follow my advice in every respect." in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." as yours." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very been with you?" aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "You think so, too?" saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain chamber." sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the to have been novel and of interest." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided public press." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and discontent upon his features. there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and are, I think, all that we need." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the redistribution. Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "BALLARAT." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at your sleep?' studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and so.' good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as was already answered. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. occurred." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." maid will bring up your coffee." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." derbies." again on its way. impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, started for the Temple to see my husband. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." will find little credit to be gained out of this case." alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "Certainly." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it Have you good authority for what you say?" "Then how many are there?" she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some in him." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your of receipt of the work. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know Dr. Gregory B. Newby I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United possible that we could bring him back to her? you understand?" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was power." after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have only touch the interest." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon man. I know him from the photograph." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty