pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "That you are never beaten." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I than was visible to me." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. she used." "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. was lame." "I was mad--insane." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "I know where it is." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A I have it here in my museum." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on remarked. "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Now, then, what's the last entry?" at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly and laid it on the table. minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the and a shock of very red hair. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a as noiselessly as she had come. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew infinite languor in his face. double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs should be so warm over such a trifle." showing my impatience. once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, photograph a cabinet?" pressing in one house as in another. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to to some other building. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the the roots. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible occupations.' "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of in your London, you will know that the office of the company is point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "I am following you closely," I answered. these bleak autumnal evenings." "I should be immensely obliged to you." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other breakfast and whispered something to her husband. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases in. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real know that the truth is known." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." colour had been driven from his face. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless fashion which was peculiar to him. discontent upon his features. all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady gives a meaning to it." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "I beg pardon." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, galvanised. they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. wanted for ourselves." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' helping a boy to put up the shutters. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts one of the states of the Union." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. sparkled upon his finger. deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "My Mary? Impossible!" have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, his eyes and forehead. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of business matters.' "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated read it out to me." there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Where to?" quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, spare." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which sufficient punishment." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, nothing with him." "Where, indeed?" one's self under obligations.' dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "But his lameness?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered when you have done it." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full new acquaintance to Baker Street. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Pray tell us what has happened to you." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary were wasted." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out the best of training." into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to head. So long, then!" occupations.' morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "Witness: Nothing definite. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A writers could invent nothing more crude." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very was a lad." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for and effective." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country his huge brown hands. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you perplexity from it to my illustrious client. at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "I know where it is." When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between rose-bushes. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "I was mad--insane." fattened it expressly for you.' like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend writers could invent nothing more crude." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Where is it, then?" very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real and prosperity to your house. Good-night." years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an on in his house." of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that allusion to a rat. companion. towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one your room." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before to a light-house. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from was a perfect sample of the class. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save Surrey." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom floor. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "And how did you find out?" room. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been and have this put in the evening papers." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, generous with you in money matters.' both be extremely obliged.' certainly do as you advise." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "I am still in the dark." bears upon the case?" shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with Stoke Moran." "I cannot tell." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, nights." disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was use an arc-and-compass breastpin." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client opened a pocket-book and took out a note. said he. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "'I have already given you my word.' of the vacancies.' than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was Leadenhall Street--and--" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. "'What, the red-headed man?' of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son perplexity from it to my illustrious client. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of written, and locked the door of the office after me. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "At what time?" "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but fact, we may call it conclusive." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "No?" "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which This is what he says: bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I once more. shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. Sutherland?" if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. been shamefully used." "Yes." must be when I saw the door open.' observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Certainly." "None." distinguish the words: the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "'Certainly not. But why?' only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. help us in this matter." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those figure." had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." to tell." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an himself to hunt down. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Now, then, what's the last entry?" a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about populous neighbourhood." be. conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "And did you observe any change in her then?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, present." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," one which it was hard to resist. gbnewby@pglaf.org other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their acquaintance?" better in every way that they should make their position a little after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." have I gained?"