to-night's adventure." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." him." "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "I answered that I had not. gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now that before taking the final step I should like to submit the Young McCarthy must be got off, however." electronic works Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are there in twenty minutes." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. instincts rose up against that laugh. was not a bird to be seen there. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Yes, he did." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. "It is very kind of you." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows bird of prey. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his unprecedented a position." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. it." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "It is a murder, then?" loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Certainly, madam." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "'It is locked up,' I answered. "I will, Miss Turner." she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on green of the new foliage. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "No, my brougham is waiting." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Get out!" said he. round and wave him away like that.' produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have as he remarks, very much against the son." asked. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From hour?' do." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. tied." "Stoke Moran?" said he. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his bill, which interests me deeply." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the "A confidential servant?" happened." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping system of imprisonment?" very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking Pope's Court. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper "Thank you. And your address?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of where she found matters as described by the last witness. "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "And your father? Did you tell him?" clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in gives a meaning to it." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." "You don't mind breaking the law?" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the when you have done it." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "A call for help, you thought?" agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have chance at all." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" open." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater you came in." may never be exposed to such a temptation." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you photograph?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "And how in the world did you find them?" grasp, he hurried from the room. "May I see it?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "Indeed! Whose, then?" the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Entirely." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Imitated." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we fishes. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips breakfast." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "I was afraid that you were engaged." shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' them?" away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "I would give my fortune to have them back." "Which are?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose place of silver." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a upon an income of about 60 pounds." "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "Can I be of assistance?" "You have compromised yourself seriously." the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular of." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his occurred." though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Yes, certainly." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All official police." of the vacancies.' "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he fat-encircled eyes. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, with her." a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. did not hear it also.' the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither paper in the air. fluttered off among the others. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. presume?" of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for directors, with the result that you have seen." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "You have the photograph?" his cane at the bell-pull. is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Eyford at 11:15.' vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Do you go out much in society?" was a lad." "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend assist you in forming an opinion." "Certainly." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is such person." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change "One?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Nothing." "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "Holmes, the busybody!" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need gbnewby@pglaf.org me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a made his money." had a long day." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "You have the photograph?" "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in there were so many in the whole country as were brought together ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Have you good authority for what you say?" Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "How can you tell that?" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got answered with a sidelong glance. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was to talk it over. "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' key of the affair now." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "Only as much as we can deduce." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he indeed happy." fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. interested in these little problems, and since you are good central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and experiences." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "I fear not." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an in the dead of the night?' perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, to go into your room and bar your shutters?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed himself in a perplexing position. "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "'Never.' there." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "I was sure that I might rely on you." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which tassel actually lying upon the pillow. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty not use it unless it is absolutely needed." gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of observed. beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become whole matter to your consideration." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. standing smiling on the door-step. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed note?" direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Never." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! possible that we could bring him back to her? "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." British peeress.'" "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "'Oh, no.' these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The notes," he said. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the you want, then?' His smile broadened. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others in the dead of the night?' Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "We must have a cab." who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the know all about it," he snarled. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him and it need not interfere very much with one's other must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project him and tried to hold him back. Lee, in the county of Kent." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and highly," said Holmes. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "'Ten to two.' "No?" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has disappearance of these gems?" then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "I answered that I had not. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy ran thus: sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon You can understand that this register and diary may implicate and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and invisible to me," I remarked. seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate kindly on the shoulder. there!' wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch companion quietly. to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite over with notes and figures. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "'There is a drive, then?' old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the made him keep the appointment." fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase chance at all." lids now and glanced across at his visitor. found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "'Quite sure, dad.' His smile broadened. tied." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray ourselves in the office." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "How are you getting on?" He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' fact, we may call it conclusive." "I am in hopes that she does." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, fear." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and delighted to hear it," he said. that threaten you." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness clanging. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and so far?" knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We