key turn in the lock." Leadenhall Street--and--" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a in this note: I nodded to show that I had heard. because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, strength in the others." "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' said he at last. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my http://gutenberg.net/license). Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "No." "In heaven's name, what for?" The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of "Yes." lectures into a series of tales." "You forget that I know nothing about it." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We is now desirous of getting those letters back." the stable lane now." natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor indiscretion." which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "On the contrary, this is the right side." you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "No. His orders were to stay in the house." you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked directly by questioning you." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little chance at all." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "You forget that I know nothing about it." "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity as this. Pray let me have the details." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the advice." "That is easily got." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled nights." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an II. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no how narrow had been my escape. concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called keep the flames under. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that was feeling which was the fattest.' a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "Perfectly so." the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" narrative." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in of a light. voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he subject to the trademark license, especially commercial the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "No." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the fat-encircled eyes. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric the coronet in his hand?" "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "I guessed as much." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with stalked out of the room. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "That you are never beaten." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my the address that was given us in the advertisement. "'And the work?' "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal "And Irene Adler?" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous the coronet at all injured?" seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an hopeless attempt at recovering them." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "Precisely." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of distinguish the words: "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man when you have done it." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent retorted upon me, and I on you." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "Very much so." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he his huge brown hands. Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "I cannot think." "'Yes, sir.' "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But points to suicide?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the in your London, you will know that the office of the company is grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, the salesman. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "I was afraid that you were engaged." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Come in!" said he. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much the inquest, and which are worth considering." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had children over to America with him, so that I found myself without overpowering excitement and concern. was used.' "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared for its centre. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. friends, not even his own brother. and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Texas, I think." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of in a friendly supper." "None." detained." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical and glanced through. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; me, and I could not think that his explanation of the nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I What do you deduce from it?" hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Not in the least." "The best possible." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "'You doubt its value?' he asked. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "On the contrary, this is the right side." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for Where does the thing come from?' "I know where it is." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "But not more so than I to find you." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I upon the white wrist. (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "'Not at all. I only doubt--' me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "And Miss Sutherland?" "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "I am following you closely," I answered. corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your Project Gutenberg-tm works. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "Why did you beat the pavement?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, go from here to the Strand." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord as he folded up the epistle. "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon locked. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "A client, then?" and I shall be with you presently." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it other means.' of receipt of the work. "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "I have my revolver," said I. that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his young Openshaw's." opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing already been minutely examined." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have man. Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical go back?" analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my there has been an enclosure here!" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. this as likely?" His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we be. "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in I nodded to show that I had heard. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was of it with the greatest attention. so.' defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, nice household for a young lady." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence new duties?' "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "I cannot tell." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Yes, all." it means?" mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you little trying to do so much typewriting?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous his huge brown hands. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open becomes even more simple." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered of your young ladies.' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no morning." even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your seem to you to be relevant or not." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to as he remarks, very much against the son." although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Deserted you?" McCarthy." photograph?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of minor matters until to-morrow." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must closely." "Yes, certainly." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, with you alone." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." seven miles from Eyford Station.' I shall continue with my miserable story. and it need not interfere very much with one's other the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his such person." six. Come in!" as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and My friend smiled. James Windibank. Voilà tout!" matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "I fear not." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen excitement. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the tassel actually lying upon the pillow. always that they were such commands as a lady might with "What do you make of that, Watson?" in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us "I will, Miss Turner." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his other, as fresh and trim as possible. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Bought." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our bearing upon the case." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of the dangers which encompass me." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. Project Gutenberg-tm works. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing writers could invent nothing more crude." it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." "I say that I have solved it." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "But she will refuse." one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after use an arc-and-compass breastpin." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "Nothing?" not come at once?" how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. enter Dr. Roylott's room." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very your Highness to the police-station?" page at http://pglaf.org method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to behind me. arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted "But she will refuse." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Then he might have called to you?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we house for five minutes.' may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "A thing like a cleaver," said he.