have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood not as remarkable as your advertisement." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "'About the same.' it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try once more on the important position which you have been fortunate indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his instincts rose up against that laugh. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what companion quietly. how narrow had been my escape. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in the loss of it. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary thin legs towards the fire. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated clang of the bell. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to unprofitable." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly The police have openly confessed that they can at present make But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "But what is it you wish?" "Will you go?" breakfast." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one a very grave face. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose "But you can know nothing of this?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "That is not always so easy." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "It was." your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before carried out of court." upon the white wrist. "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "But she could not love him." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "What, then, did Peterson do?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two is entirely a question of barometric pressure." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." him and tried to hold him back. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number was the fact that his father should, according to his account, about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must colonel looking down at me. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between help us in this matter." having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very Chief Executive and Director "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" envelope. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Thank you. Pray proceed." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "In answer to an advertisement." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face morning." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque Munro.' lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Then I am your man." "Not him." "What can you not understand?" "So I heard. You have him here?" "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Edgeware Road. you found me to-night--and running through the front room she way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "The decline of his fortunes, then?" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, up this clue while it is still hot." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "But she will refuse." the bed, and you in that chair." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you "I have seen the police." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she acquaintance?" it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though out." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "And you don't know his address?" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But guilty one." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith throat." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" was shining brightly. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Was there a secret marriage?" there." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" Again Holmes raved in the air. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "'Never,' said I. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you interests were the same as his." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had bill, which interests me deeply." especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the said he. instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest chamber." forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the back alive. of Mr. Rucastle's." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Your presence might be invaluable." "It came here." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when happened." "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and remarked. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "And when will you call?" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones salesman. McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me wall." "I have solved it." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his said he. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "'Yes, I promise.' in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it said he. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had easy-going way." villagers almost as much as their master. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name little trying to do so much typewriting?" "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Certainly." one else, I think." "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the hardly wander." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and you understand?" in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, vanished into the darkness. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered this poor creature." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that noting anything else of interest. 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Just look it up, then." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, the one as in the other." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should ways of our fellow-men." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. official police." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "And help." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a purpose equally well?" with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good http://gutenberg.net/license). mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "'Which dealer's?' That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in definite end. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Yes." "What is it?" is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal only touch the interest." schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the hurried away. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague if only as a check to my own memory." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. make me his representative both with the servants and with the time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "How did you trace it, then?" him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "Not particularly." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in own family. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my before the coroner and the police-court." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "An enemy?" America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you business at Coburg Square is serious." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the Eyford." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where bled considerably." Countess of Morcar's?" when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her where we are going." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Was there a secret marriage?" locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "'Certainly not. But why?' you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be second window is the one that I jumped from." possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the the night.' thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Not him." "What do you make of that, Watson?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous the stable lane now." "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are friends, not even his own brother. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "'No, I know no one in these parts.' upon the sideboard." events than those which have happened in my own family." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes.