James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, signal between you and your father? morning." upon a handsome competence. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "Come in!" said Holmes. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "'Ample.' lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary the inquest, and which are worth considering." shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these nonsense.' always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone what is your own theory as to what took place?" "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of nothing of it?" there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "How about poison?" http://gutenberg.net/license). feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "'As governess?' weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "You heard nothing yourself last night?" building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my which we had just quitted. the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "No more words. Get out!" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has opened the door, and slipped through. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "It is to him that this trophy belongs." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "I was mad--insane." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "But what harm can there be in that?" of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and during that time.' attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES me what he had done with the three missing stones. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "I am still in the dark." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said arrested. You then--" in this way: ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly Where does the thing come from?' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and past. mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers morning." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "How did he come?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "None." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "One horse?" interjected Holmes. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made details should find their way into the papers. Inspector "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your fishes. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed there is a decided draught." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." note?" while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." get her out of the way." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, out of this horrible affair." started for the Temple to see my husband. said he. my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting "A confidential servant?" ill-usage at the hands of fortune. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no are windows in it, of course?" thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional ill-usage at the hands of fortune. in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "'What do you call purely nominal?' some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly you give your casting vote to?" indeed happy." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately morning." Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "What, then?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so o'clock is it?" when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "I shall most certainly do so." "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which official police." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a "I would pay ten." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings passage and a tap at the door. mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, papers on the sundial.'" of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a quite distinctive." "Won't it ring?" the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "I will try. What is it?" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any For additional contact information: woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black enter Dr. Roylott's room." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the third from London." minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may a few minutes he said that it would be all right. will be renamed. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation point our research must commence, and we will begin it by been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just seven miles from Eyford Station.' he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' were new raised from a basin. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "One of the highest in England." "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, views." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman vanished into the darkness. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in prove to be little relation between the different incidents of feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "At half-wages, in fact." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home instincts rose up against that laugh. nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "We have tried and failed." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you forbidden door. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of three fields round his house, and there he would take his felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Which are?" "And what then?" words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "How did you deduce the select?" "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" matter over." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how Doctor, of the paper and the date." noble correspondent could be. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on threw himself down with his face to the pillow. bears upon the case?" o'clock is it?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see residence of the great financier. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "'No, I know no one in these parts.' and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "I am following you closely," I answered. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the was lame." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "But what harm can there be in that?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "Certainly, madam." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Why did you pick him?" my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Certainly." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. child?' then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It as the one I chose?' you, my dear young lady?' her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to vague figure huddled up in the darkness. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the even so self-evident a thing as that." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should "'In my own bureau.' "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "'Certainly not.' struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the DISSOLVED. the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the noting anything else of interest. Eyford at 11:15.' morning." "Nothing." poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening memory. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and careless servant girl?" for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." dates and names. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in papers must be those that are destroyed.' advice." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the way: idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the dramatic, in fact." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own humiliation." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they she slowly sank and died without having recovered her bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Very much so." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little the matter." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? gone. furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he whether it answered to the description of any of their staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their simple cases which are so extremely difficult." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco I nodded to show that I had heard. would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "'Never.' used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the he bowed and left the room without another word. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As papers." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout lost his Christmas dinner." it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "'As governess?' thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they do." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" to miss it." redistribution.