and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a sufficient punishment." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. shoulder; "he's all right." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "But his left-handedness." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His morning." "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem fattened it expressly for you.' article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." out of this horrible affair." feature." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she will he say when he returns?" 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a it." as this. Pray let me have the details." thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. all?" gentleman's clothes. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and fasten all the windows?" did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, obstinate." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Then what has happened to him?" a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must peculiar to him. steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "We were both in the photograph." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to kind enough to tell me what I should do." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "What, then, did Peterson do?" then?" a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "And how did he make his money?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in know that the truth is known." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Watson," he said cordially. ceremony." against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "Oh, the cause is excellent!" Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that cost them two and thirty pounds." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined interests were the same as his." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Well, some hundreds of times." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Yes, but only for you and me." office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "I will not look." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Sholtos." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a other lovers by making love himself." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "If I can be of use." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which province." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "I promise," said Holmes. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly as he remarks, very much against the son." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Oh, yes, easily." however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." your Highness to the police-station?" of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest it. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. south, for the country is more deserted there." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Quite so. She has her freedom." had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, father's place of business?" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Then, how do you know?" lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." strength in the others." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its placed his cuttings. as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless official police." form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "On your arm?" were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, think you a quite exceptional woman." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. drove away. "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." and it need not interfere very much with one's other my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess within hail.' lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest gone. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a London for the present?" beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the that the gas is not laid on in his house?" his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Holmes rather sternly. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. what is your own theory as to what took place?" paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him Pool. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. less than 26s. 4d. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at roused himself from his reverie. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, you give your casting vote to?" is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "'Never,' said I. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and what these perils are?" Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. enter into my head. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "Come in!" said Holmes. some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well villagers almost as much as their master. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Thank you. Pray proceed." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies what do you think they found in the pockets?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet of this gang." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Stoke Moran." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Ha! you find it so?" and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "Yes, certainly." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "What!" he roared. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on My friend smiled. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" a little more before I quite committed myself. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in some water from a caraffe. wedding?" details should find their way into the papers. Inspector What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of tension within him. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with habit of advancing money.' errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "I have come for advice." "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away brandy and water within his reach. which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "None." had picked up in the wood. "Dirty?" said he. "My Mary? Impossible!" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to that I am arrested." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He fear." Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "And your mother is alive?" street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of taking in every detail of the apartment. garden below. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of then?" other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson client, rising. "That you are never beaten." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, call for protection in the marriage market, for the present the coronet in his hand?" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my nothing of it?" true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." business in the City. She little knew what. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause good-night and bustled off upon her way. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly papers on the sundial.'" town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of again before evening." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. be.' of the one which your family is now devouring." photograph?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through I shall communicate with you." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'Where to?' him nearly every evening." away to you." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has row." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her problems help me to do so." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' the date of his supposed suicide." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or again on its way. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets John Swain, of St. Augustine. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding which it had come upon my father." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Then what has happened to him?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to from you?" into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Come in!" said Holmes. facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the help us in this matter." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah from you?" Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "My dear Holmes!" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger trifles." your room." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in records." "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest time." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "No." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing outbreak?" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' I took the paper from him and read as follows: such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he lids now and glanced across at his visitor. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my excitement. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination posted to-day." aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and records." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." had a long day." "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a you?" "I answered that I had not. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through you for a few hours?" "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he Literary Archive Foundation "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold families. Now for the facts. he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money