before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation would apply.' "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a you." Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open simple cases which are so extremely difficult." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which ourselves in the office." he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "The murder was done with it." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg 1.E.9. rooms." have an American origin." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the Again Holmes raved in the air. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "This concluded the examination of the witness." said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "I say it is." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "That is possible." Holmes. will be renamed. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm seem to you to be relevant or not." that the gas is not laid on in his house?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for present strange and interesting features that it is no easy possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than at home. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "You don't mind breaking the law?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "Do you know him?" stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should just called myself is not exactly my own." later, upon the night of May 2nd." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He that I am arrested." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in arrangements." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what which should have the effect of calling the attention of the weary and pale-looking. day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "'You cannot say what it was?' that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very impression behind it as though a window had gently closed poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "But his lameness?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your means taking possession of that which another person has a prior the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." Surrey." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked them?" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she your sleep?' was already answered. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from it were putty." "I do." the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Were they all fastened this morning?" table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "And sit in the dark?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his http://www.gutenberg.net has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "We must have a cab." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear over his head with a sweet womanly caress. as he folded up the epistle. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Have you her photograph?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us nights." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there tapping his fingers upon the table. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. him, that man would not have given me such complete information pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH mysterious end." I held the little printed slip to the light. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Then I shall certainly come." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary south, for the country is more deserted there." At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "What, then, did Peterson do?" drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "I came to find a friend." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Ha! you find it so?" residence of the great financier. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those of Mr. Rucastle's." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I side. tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "You were travelling in the States?" grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the answer." something of him before." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to of the one which your family is now devouring." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "'Yes, sir.' "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. again, where I was soon asleep. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "Frequently." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he client, rising. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found appeal." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "You have compromised yourself seriously." "What, then, did Peterson do?" 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one vanished into the darkness. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." such person." waste of energy." "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. third from London." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that derbies." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger or other trace. But how on earth--" as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "It missed him, then?" "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of burst out into a roar of laughter. weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might chance." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "But not more so than I to find you." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, guilty one." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. whole matter to your consideration." beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital some mystery and the punishment of some crime." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." murdered man." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "But of what society?" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "Your sister is dead, then?" was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the use an arc-and-compass breastpin." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination written. himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that became a certainty. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders even so self-evident a thing as that." acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "But he might be a bachelor." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and of." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone never to learn it at all." a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I never came back." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something to tackle the facts." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes garden below. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham hair?' I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each exactly what you advise." "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable for the market.' cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "I will not look." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. is now desirous of getting those letters back." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "He said too much." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "It missed him, then?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" spark where all is dark to me." delighted to hear it," he said. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but gone. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." 1.F. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third call for it in person on Monday morning.' her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and the coronet at all injured?" whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you use an arc-and-compass breastpin." my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said becomes even more simple." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, tied." saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "You are hungry," I remarked. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." husband's writing, madam." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "To ruin me." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "Your French gold?" with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy meant it for the best. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "'Oh, no.' transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of leaning back in his chair. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "'There is a drive, then?' "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and not interfere, come what may. You understand?" The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence directors, with the result that you have seen." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Very. But will he see it?" "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became sit on the left-hand side of the driver." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't conduct the inquiry." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, hard-headed British jury." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you man. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "Did your wife hear all this?" chair. the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's once more to my work. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It the driver. nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, make me his representative both with the servants and with the basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "One of his hands." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three disappearance of these gems?" computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should American. Then who could this American be, and why should he the roots. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into "Entirely." Farm upon the left." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "'About the same.' which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still tension within him. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself shoulder; "he's all right." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, to-night?" I asked. lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with instituted." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' learned something! Where are the gems?" friends, not even his own brother. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through of the vacancies.' "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in newspaper selections." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case *** START: FULL LICENSE *** At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies during which he might have communicated with his friend the