which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would do.' these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came 11:15.' "I cannot say that I have." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and in his hands." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' at a side door. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "He is dead," cried several voices. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his crackling voice. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the to you." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of father's young wife. the King without delay." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and forecastle of an emigrant ship. matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of "No, my brougham is waiting." showing my impatience. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the straighten it?" room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call rat could hardly pass through." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "Yes." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only get the tickets." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "Why? What do you mean?" yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had silent! Oh, he will be silent!' glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" the very letters. But what is this written above them?' him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a page at http://pglaf.org would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as done what I asked you, Jones?" to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the more terrible than the truth. important." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. The telegram which we eventually received came late one night You can understand that this register and diary may implicate "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the business?" fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was the Friday. Was it to be in church?" better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Pray continue your narrative." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man hereditary King of Bohemia." stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were "I would give my fortune to have them back." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings go--none." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his "When did she vanish, then?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is one else, I think." relief. "Will you go?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the into the bag, and made for the door. employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to been with you?" robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "Well, but China?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses fuss that is made over them." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "No." It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we troubles have been weighing upon his mind. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to take the flies, but not before." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one and that he would see to anything that turned up. saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and could not have written that. It is the German who is so the driver. this unhappy family?" "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the unclasping of his long thin hands. explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "It is no ordinary one." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "'Entirely.' with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Nothing?" Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. the stable lane now." and all of them with the keenest interest. 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us from you?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most sake, don't!" sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can the loss of it. that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "'It is locked up,' I answered. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull seven miles from Eyford Station.' rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. there!' be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "This photograph!" nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her dear old homesteads?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my pound a week." the loss of it. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" you, my dear young lady?' "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear me. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. as he remarks, very much against the son." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his not come at once?" what I may call a really hard day's work." "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, way in everything. clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he which our visitor detailed to us. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "Married! When?" we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the and have this put in the evening papers." is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his imbecility!" he cried. fishes. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were other lovers by making love himself." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the and all of them with the keenest interest. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "And how did you verify them?" Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll constraint." "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. prison!" over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the seem to you to be relevant or not." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which Holmes rather sternly. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and disappearance of these gems?" young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "Did he not advertise?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black good-night and bustled off upon her way. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging started for the Temple to see my husband. "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one system of imprisonment?" very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, affair. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; taking in every detail of the apartment. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but him." again, where I was soon asleep. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves guilty one." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "Precisely." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian some mystery and the punishment of some crime." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a such person." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him if only as a check to my own memory." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which tightly behind him. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old feature." "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air Holmes' room. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "I fear not." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "That was it, sir." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "I would pay ten." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From open." guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What even so self-evident a thing as that." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the jewels which you have stolen?' "I do." asked. list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "He said too much." same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one the matter?" good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must chair. observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Stoke Moran?" said he. "It was a confession," I ejaculated. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "And how have you succeeded?" without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more relief. nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "It is possible." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." chance." of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether enough to aid us in our search." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered tightly behind him. floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his thirty. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat despaired of." into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that