"No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "Well, some hundreds of times." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "'You doubt its value?' he asked. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. footfalls from the street. secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "And that is--" turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the tragedy. him!" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his wall." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was his huge brown hands. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire examine." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, breakfast." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his wedding?" even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced foot. occupations.' before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "Not I." lips." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium the coronet in his hands?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "How did you deduce the select?" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of second." heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able "I think that I had better go, Holmes." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came be.' and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily your co-operation." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "That is it on the dressing-table." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him weary and pale-looking. framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar throat." paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature morning." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be highly," said Holmes. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" seem to you to be relevant or not." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." fled together." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre present." He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking his fortune, and I went back to pa. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their have established a very serious case against the son of the again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Certainly." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual I am not easy in my mind about them." we went to search for him, face downward in a little "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very easy-going way." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried never came back." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "'Where to?' Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man past. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "I am all attention, madam." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged not within a twentieth part of the market price." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, is entirely a question of barometric pressure." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" mysterious end." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "About a month then." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "I will not look." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "'You cannot say what it was?' "'Quite sure, dad.' the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "I promise," said Holmes. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of putting in the horse. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the sound at heart." time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "But she will refuse." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "I fear not." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, husband's writing, madam." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Heh?' we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "'Very good.' "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "How often?" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "It is half-past ten now." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them ourselves in the office." hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, you give your casting vote to?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot held up the lantern and gazed about him. had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the second." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "You have carte blanche." considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "What is it, then--a fire?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "I shall be delighted." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "What! Had he lost his wife?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and four million human beings all jostling each other within the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "An enemy?" among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. know that the truth is known." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek happened." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away His name is Francis Prosper." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "I am following you closely," I answered. "In heaven's name, what for?" "May I see it?" the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just other lovers by making love himself." nothing with him." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "I cannot imagine." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I some place of shelter and let the county police know what has standing smiling on the door-step. "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "What shall I do?" "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "I should wish to." in the hope of finding them." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "No, I am descending." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "My dear Holmes!" was lame." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "How do you know, then?" "I am following you closely," I answered. "Come in!" said he. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from returning from some small jollification and was making his way scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking he died? "There are none." Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself his forehead." way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back outside. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to said I. "But how?" "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. have had none more fantastic than this." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, seem to you to be relevant or not." you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The question. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "'What, the red-headed man?' the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "But how did you gain them?" "None." spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to it means?" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite helping a boy to put up the shutters. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the danger is over." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for crime. "That was it, sir." to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She get her out of the way." with you?" you came in." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Certainly." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Murdered?" had a long day." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said walking." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "Just look it up, then." "My opinion is in no way altered." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "Yes, only one." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "What! You do not mean bodies?" he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, becomes even more simple." any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a jewels which you have stolen?' writer." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "Murdered?" "Ha! you find it so?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps there were one or two details which were new to me. But the I leave." advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his "You think so, too?" I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Eh? What was that?" the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of secret." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows hurried by. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and your room." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" this Miss Turner." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "Yes, sir." "No." Clair, of Lee." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on