didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving away into the river." asked with his eyes open. me upon any point which I do not make clear." "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in more solid." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless o'clock is it?" triumphant cloud from his cigarette. promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers outside." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "Perhaps we may make them less so." his grey eyes. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most that I may have something better before very many minutes are pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Then I do not see the point." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was towards the blaze. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "I saw her in conversation with her maid." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' article?" the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers begin with, and I had not got mine yet." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Yes." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at From what you have told me I think that it is possible that opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "It looks newer than the other things?" he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything do.' front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. conceal it?" than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "'Yes, sir.' was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it gone. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who indeed which he could not unravel. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "It is possible." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "'Stolen!' he cried. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. out of this horrible affair." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I dramatic, in fact." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. that you can jump it.' dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "What are they?" comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "What are they?" far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "To ruin me." Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You in the port of London." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back later, upon the night of May 2nd." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, over with notes and figures. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since ways including including checks, online payments and credit card Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the back alive. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." forbidden door. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Doctor, of the paper and the date." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old before the coroner and the police-court." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Frequently." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "You heard nothing yourself last night?" without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "And I to find an enemy." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went and laid it on the table. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage Lee, in the county of Kent." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "I don't believe it." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "'As governess?' glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? dramatic, in fact." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "But to whom?" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide daring than any effort of the imagination." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. infinite languor in his face. "And you can do nothing until then?" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. intrusion of other matters." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing skylight. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Pray be precise as to details," said he. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he unprecedented a position." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect heavy and sharp instrument." cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" train from Paddington which would bring you there at about greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "A thing like a cleaver," said he. brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, jewels which you have stolen?' "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Yes, it would be as well." lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front started for the Temple to see my husband. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. said he at last. "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, strength." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a note?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that been." you do it in twenty minutes!' expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Then I shall certainly come." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "You were travelling in the States?" look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time the coronet in his hands?" "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his the inquest, and which are worth considering." might have a private word with us. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's strong and stiff." "Where, then, is my wife?" "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes once more on the important position which you have been fortunate something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," your room." which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man of the way of danger. "He is still with you, I presume?" "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking again on its way. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see "I will do it." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a that he will be back before evening." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the sofa. This way, please!" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "'Is purely nominal.' "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "It looks newer than the other things?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "I cannot tell." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both on re-entering her father's house?" tapping his fingers upon the table. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "She will not sell." he bowed and left the room without another word. said he at last. unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an coat-tails." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "May I see it?" "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! yards of it?' fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "In which, sir?" "10th. John Swain cleared. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty shall use the carriage to-night." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some tension within him. 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot friends, not even his own brother. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should know all about it," he snarled. push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside one's self under obligations.' side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "One?" suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most maid will bring up your coffee." "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, fait accompli?" Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "If so, much may have happened between." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. correct than the official force." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would galvanised. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." despaired of." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out His smile broadened. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." speckled band?" "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. went to the Alpha were town bred." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." his face. I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "What steps will you take?" I asked. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some crowd. my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "'Is 4 pounds a week.' something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's flock.' key turn in the lock." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed "It was an hour's good drive." his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and cigars in their mouths. success. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel amused." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting correct than the official force." case before our client came into the room." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Then how many are there?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any said he at last. bed dies. Does not that strike you?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it indeed which he could not unravel. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. fuss that is made over them." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do danger is over." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and my room." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four persecution?" 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in gigantic client. than was visible to me." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "I am all attention, madam." I held the little printed slip to the light. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "He is dead," cried several voices. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "But you can know nothing of this?" this Miss Turner." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I