country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "How long did she speak to this Alice?" and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "I cannot tell." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country purpose of examination. writing, and yet I know it well." husband's writing, madam." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil companion quietly. the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it coat-tails." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "'Oh, no.' "Then I can wait in the next room." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue fled together." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "Do you go out much in society?" "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was ourselves in the office." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he carpenter." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You words came to my lips. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he views." not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have together. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, indeed happy." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in with you?" think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me upon the sideboard." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "The decline of his fortunes, then?" colonel looking down at me. legal crime." heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "You are all wrong." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain forebodings. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and disappearance of these gems?" state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "'And what are they worth?' I asked. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence should be taken.' performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "Precisely." facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we answer." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "I promise," said Holmes. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "Perfectly so." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know in my life." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Certainly." for securing the situation." 1.E.9. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded strong reason behind." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." invisible to me," I remarked. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side meant it for the best. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "What then?" quick march!" "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them placed his cuttings. the address that was given us in the advertisement. there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." lost nothing by them." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a shall use the carriage to-night." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand waste of energy." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then October 9, 1890. fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I your most interesting statement." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working stammered. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most laugh and put his lips to my ear. the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he there in twenty minutes." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Come in!" said Holmes. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Ah!" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "None." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "Come in!" said Holmes. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he public press." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds completely overtopped every other consideration that we both vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the breakfast and whispered something to her husband. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Absolutely none." "Get out!" said he. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, the dangers which encompass me." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "It is no ordinary one." Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and peculiar to him. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the became a certainty. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, excitement. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Where, indeed?" "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Nothing." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes were unconscious?" cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." there." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will place, I think that there is good ground to think that the he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my cup of tea. forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "I see no marks." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Very truly yours, promised to bring home. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic occurred." have had none more fantastic than this." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "None." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus License. You must require such a user to return or overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I way in." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the without success. At last the little money which I had saved began inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to delighted to hear it," he said. without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face sound at heart." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most lost nothing by them." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." compunction about shooting them down." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "He said too much." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Why did you beat the pavement?" "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded "But what is it you wish?" were unconscious?" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have who was a member of your goose club." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he Young McCarthy must be got off, however." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' was not a bird to be seen there. "You are hungry," I remarked. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Where, then?" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may true." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look peculiar to him. overpowering excitement and concern. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an highly," said Holmes. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to returning from some small jollification and was making his way in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. to have been novel and of interest." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. wanted for ourselves." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "'Then let me do so?' me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his minor matters until to-morrow." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." amused." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a photograph?" us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office suggested at once that there must be a communication between the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most floor. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "And is that all?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "The rest you will leave in our hands." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are I took the paper from him and read as follows: her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "I saw her in conversation with her maid." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too as yours." to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "It's nothing of the kind." "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the comes from the middle window." The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very may have an influence upon European history." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of client, rising. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "But the mystery?" "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked second window is the one that I jumped from." indeed happy." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." drawing your inferences." feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said