me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "I say it is." a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with once more. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." so.' "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp sound at heart." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for impression behind it as though a window had gently closed a monotonous occupation." she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "My private note-paper." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow excitement. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "It looks newer than the other things?" to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "We must sit without light. He would see it through the useful material for showing traces. The double line a little they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "You horrify me!" The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and right! Sit down and let us talk it over." down. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "But how could you guess what the motive was?" humiliation." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "'What then?' I asked. "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly lamp in his hand. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed tell him that I know him to be innocent." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has Holmes' thin, eager face. of receipt of the work. pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it entirely devoid of interest." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "Then, how do you know?" to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." becomes even more simple." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, he bowed and left the room without another word. at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "Then, as to money?" complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." within hail.' a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he rose-bushes. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have I. brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her highly," said Holmes. you in your example." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "And now?" I asked. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, signal between you and your father? case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and did not hear it also.' "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "In heaven's name, what for?" de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you guilty parties." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "Yes, they were peculiar boots." of receipt of the work. make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down think you a quite exceptional woman." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained and put his glass in his pocket. "Did you become engaged then?" crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set was not a bird to be seen there. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It forebodings. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this locked. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Never to return." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "Yes." awkward doing business with an alias." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose not as remarkable as your advertisement." not personally threatened." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying must be when I saw the door open.' "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little once more on the important position which you have been fortunate the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "The decline of his fortunes, then?" editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not despaired of." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "No legal papers or certificates?" "He might." at my remark. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! forecastle of an emigrant ship. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging standing smiling on the door-step. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has your troubles." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "I have solved it." to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your questioning and rather startled gaze. north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your roused himself from his reverie. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small not, dad?" she asked. "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, that before taking the final step I should like to submit the I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter never came back." Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest I approached. and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, eat it." better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, companion imperturbably. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "I was afraid that you were engaged." nonsense.' the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "And who is her maid?" against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the Assizes." charge against him will break down." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every you." I nodded again. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I Pool. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland the salesman. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce rooms." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the dear old homesteads?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, you want, then?' been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a could go. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire gone. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "'Certainly not. But why?' Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "I am sure." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I affection." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. bedroom door." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Entirely." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and putting in the horse. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable copied or distributed: "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me like that before?" ways of our fellow-men." better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley forbidden door. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "How are you getting on?" puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the throat." you in yours." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some man. I know him from the photograph." the matter?" up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the excitement. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "And why in hopes?" "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "Have you it here?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a wanted for ourselves." step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at waste of energy." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she quite distinctive." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one their singular warning or token before them when starting upon clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "Murdered?" some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from carpenter." distinguish the words: whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an "You are certainly joking, Holmes." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "No." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate room?" derbies." running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has been." impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "I cannot imagine." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "You think that he is dead?" prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "What are they?" them?" "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn ventilator." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "But I have heard all that you have heard." Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself the so-precious time, but come!' man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon me have 200 pounds?' since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm thought that she would have been so carried away." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked soul! here is her carriage at the door." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately I think that I could be of assistance to you." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached Again Holmes raved in the air. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "And I to find an enemy." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a them present such singular features as the strange train of you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Of Friday, June 19th." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp could not have written that. It is the German who is so been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! I was concerned in it." distinguish the words: it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were details." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "That is easily got." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed wedding?" to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which use an arc-and-compass breastpin." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "What, then?" been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are enough to aid us in our search." "That is not always so easy." strong and stiff." "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of me. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land nonsense.' It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "What have you to say now?" lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I assist you in forming an opinion." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of in this note: "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable security.' "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said to tell." "Oh, fresh and glossy." secret." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You States. points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "But you would not advise me to refuse?"