"I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "If I can be of use." signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Miss Holder?" his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "This concluded the examination of the witness." business came to an end." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the bachelor.' agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "'You doubt its value?' he asked. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel "On your arm?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "He might." occurred." find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in quickly through a disagreeable task. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a comes from the middle window." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," where we are going." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "He is still with you, I presume?" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Yes." the matter?" "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save than was visible to me." "It is very kind of you." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Texas, I think." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned both be extremely obliged.' was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations fashion which was peculiar to him. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "How did you deduce the select?" slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "'You cannot say what it was?' Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the front of the hall door has given its name to the place. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad reach." row." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will house for five minutes.' his huge brown hands. in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to during the last few years, and there are many noble families to occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was not come at once?" nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little Street. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "I should be immensely obliged to you." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, shall use the carriage to-night." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so likely to be some crony of the landlady's." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" arrangements." Lee, in the county of Kent." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would imbecility!" he cried. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some strong reason behind." beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a the side-table." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step fishes. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips pierced for earrings?" say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies or other trace. But how on earth--" "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the Foundation to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "I shall be delighted." matters immensely." lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich future lives." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some you for a few hours?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "No, finished." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my trying to your nerves." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair is so. I know all about McCarthy." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "None." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "My opinion is in no way altered." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in whether it answered to the description of any of their building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I one else, I think." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "It certainly sounds feasible." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and straighten it?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Come in!" said Holmes. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "They are typewritten," I remarked. heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook which our visitor detailed to us. though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream the tragedy. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do friends, not even his own brother. of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I "Was your sister dressed?" "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come Arthur Conan Doyle green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "I think that it is very probable." Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it and the colonel ushered me in. sneer upon his pale face. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at on re-entering her father's house?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "How about poison?" taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "What have you to say now?" my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." results." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Was your sister dressed?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "Certainly." "'Certainly,' I answered. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this perplexity from it to my illustrious client. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried girl said." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "How can you tell that?" "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "But how will you look?" reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, straightened it out again. London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Bought." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "Yes." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "No good news?" meant it for the best. one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City figure." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended that you saw all that I did." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." again, where I was soon asleep. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have prison!" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to narrative." in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The children over to America with him, so that I found myself without must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it and no precautions can guard against." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, cigar and let me expound." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, bird I ate is country bred." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his man. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the little trying to do so much typewriting?" Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "And sit in the dark?" the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "'Yes, sir.' he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "And Miss Sutherland?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. less than 26s. 4d. woven round him. walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, hurried by. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of sofa. This way, please!" unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it overpowering excitement and concern. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp for securing the situation." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case congratulate you again." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly matters immensely." "Eh? What was that?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows have accepted such a situation. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler fact, we may call it conclusive." had no one to advise her at such a crisis." security.' more solid." if she died from some sudden fright." what I may call a really hard day's work." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson reach." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly out of this horrible affair." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the His smile broadened. bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or friends, not even his own brother. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, John Swain, of St. Augustine. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an developed." photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. But Holmes shook his head gravely. criminal. We have already had experience of such." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, Leave Paddington by the 11:15." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness certainly do as you advise." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good may never be exposed to such a temptation." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about business at Coburg Square is serious." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." he died? closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. off." owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "You forget that I know nothing about it." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a off." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "And sit in the dark?" that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom purpose equally well?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "Here?" the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in have I gained?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a Count Von Kramm." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.