elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "Entirely." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out trifles." rat could hardly pass through." "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Nor running a chance of arrest?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "'What, the red-headed man?' to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." you do it in twenty minutes!' child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. be.' star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried spare." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "He said that you could solve anything." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are go back?" and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a one else, I think." "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and direction." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Where did you address your letters, then?" that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "And how did he make his money?" "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "Proceed, then." http://www.gutenberg.net "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "Will you bet, then?" manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my better in every way that they should make their position a little vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and Holmes. "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On what I may call a really hard day's work." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss the King without delay." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "At half-wages, in fact." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would this remarkable episode. "Yes, the wine-cellar." midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." forbidden door. business." "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "You know me, then?" away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "By all means." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated the side-table." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "But who is he?" has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "Your presence might be invaluable." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds is worth.' seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "You think so, too?" my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "The knees of his trousers." house for five minutes.' finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "By train from Waterloo." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." already referred to. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "And sit in the dark?" bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in triumphant cloud from his cigarette. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the joking. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the himself. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "But she could not love him." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from of the vacancies.' do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "How long did she speak to this Alice?" wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course we went to search for him, face downward in a little against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "It must be recovered." remarked. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British Project Gutenberg-tm works. thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. opportunities to fix the problem. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "ARAT," I read. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace salesman. but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "When did it break out?" purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "This photograph!" fait accompli?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "And why?" "Imitated." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Could he throw no light?" 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly it right.' Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his late!' will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a second window is the one that I jumped from." I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "She told me to ask you." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "It missed him, then?" conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with papers must be those that are destroyed.' '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may his huge brown hands. "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Where, then?" foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the there when the Rucastles went away." wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied miles off. order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an this as likely?" but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "'Certainly,' I answered. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my I am not easy in my mind about them." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was Eyford at 11:15.' he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "What shall I do?" "And when will you call?" "It is very clear." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "And the cigar-holder?" and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Do you go out much in society?" the dangers which encompass me." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "And Miss Sutherland?" I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently crackling voice. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "And when will you call?" "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love instincts rose up against that laugh. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "And what did you see?" against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who sofa. This way, please!" "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit guilty parties." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She present strange and interesting features that it is no easy to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well Lee, in the county of Kent." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "It was an hour's good drive." person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" Clair, of Lee." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "I should wish to." with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, skylight. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell into the bag, and made for the door. Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "My dear Holmes!" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "I should wish to." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that call it cruel." "It certainly sounds feasible." back alive. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I way in." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the affection." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its details." "Game for a morning drive?" "Certainly, madam." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, sooner or later she must fall a victim. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that should be so warm over such a trifle." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself daring than any effort of the imagination." "Ah!" predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "But how?" could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding stalked out of the room. confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in eat it." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Ten will be early enough." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Quite so. She has her freedom." call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, the one as in the other." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be nights." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, God! What an exposure! What can I do?" where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, before the coroner and the police-court." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate the coroner come to?" freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers of Fenchurch Street." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have appeal." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. Holmes' room. and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I business in the City. She little knew what. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Very truly yours, Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short look upon these things in a different way." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One woman." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" comes from the middle window." instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that annoyance, but no jest. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "And how did you verify them?" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I shall be delighted."