"'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "I have hopes." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me like gravel from a pit.' remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously address. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some where Mr. Fordham shows you.' crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two Leadenhall Street--and--" "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to and prosperity to your house. Good-night." affair. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "And now?" I asked. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has thought that she would have been so carried away." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in you want, then?' sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire learned something! Where are the gems?" When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was success. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to digesting their breakfasts at home." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at Street. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he here." writer." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must is worth.' "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "And now?" I asked. outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That in darkness. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the general public were present, then?" "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the danger is over." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered you do it in twenty minutes!' sparkled upon his finger. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Certainly." "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands which our visitor detailed to us. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' you for a few hours?" was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. made his money." "Yes, sir." "ARAT," I read. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have pity, because in other respects you would really have done very sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the this remarkable episode. colonel looking down at me. pressing in one house as in another. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to ashen face. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. what these perils are?" I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "I have a cab outside." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" my room." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend voice, changing her seat as requested. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of most interesting one." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me train.' job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "Yes." was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can such person." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. she might be summoned. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is eat it." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now Pope's Court. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual felt the room to be a little close.' comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, showing my impatience. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just words came to my lips. "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "That's no good." purpose equally well?" where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can occurred." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his the coroner come to?" "Very truly yours, Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil together. and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who footfalls from the street. business." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the floor. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat and glanced through. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "I will try. What is it?" were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Yes." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "But not more so than I to find you." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is will take you up to see the machine.' your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, promised to bring home. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings bled considerably." had picked up in the wood. until night should bring an explanation. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: kind enough to tell me what I should do." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise shoulder. and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found points to suicide?" relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." pressing in one house as in another. "Game for a morning drive?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such My friend smiled. her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Why did you pick him?" Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed him." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper business at Coburg Square is serious." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "And what then?" wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young Holmes' room. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. answer." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "I know where it is." the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even late." humiliation." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong wife's character?" Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "What! You do not mean bodies?" If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing records." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "VIOLET HUNTER." "That also I could fathom." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, as he remarks, very much against the son." broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, morning." coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive you." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at and glanced through. "And I." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "'A dozen yards or so.' the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I IS widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad more solid." heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to gbnewby@pglaf.org his huge brown hands. room. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "No, but the enclosure is." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "One of his hands." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "Certainly, madam." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "The knees of his trousers." out." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "How can you tell that?" even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I waste of energy." in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to not use it unless it is absolutely needed." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he letters?" compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a affair. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out observed. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the away into the river." another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the be. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "I cannot imagine." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else fattened it expressly for you.' Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old door?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the married her." You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" ways of our fellow-men." "Eh? What was that?" Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one that you saw all that I did." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in you." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from tail." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, them?" assist you in forming an opinion." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk once more for Briony Lodge. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, in the port of London." room had already been engaged for us. the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Heh?' "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his four million human beings all jostling each other within the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "And sit in the dark?" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. of them has the shutters up.' Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Why did you beat the pavement?" which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" all-comprehensive glances. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by them, and came down just as you departed. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at are, I think, all that we need." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house round and wave him away like that.' "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "'How far from the body?' I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' my friend's incisive reasoning. "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were awaited us upon the table. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. and the colonel ushered me in. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from some city in a dream. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "Very much so." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an