characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "It is possible." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Witness: It was. a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "Just look it up, then." "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he interest. They are important, you understand, without being quick march!" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a to-morrow." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "But how?" "Then I shall certainly come." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose had formerly been in part my own. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "'What do you call purely nominal?' pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "None. Neville wrote those words." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "And why in hopes?" "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "None." say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "In heaven's name, what for?" he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to who was a member of your goose club." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened breakfast and whispered something to her husband. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing highroad, where all traces were lost. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "Never to return." "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "In San Francisco, a year ago." "You did not overhear what they said?" "'Why that?' I asks. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the himself to hunt down. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." felt the room to be a little close.' have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "How often?" pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. really the only notable feature about the thing." the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." some city in a dream. appeared upon the scene." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he to arrive at through this?" in. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was useful material for showing traces. The double line a little money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. drove away. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no conduct the inquiry." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "So I heard. You have him here?" in him." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his forebodings. "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Henry Baker is a member." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." occurred." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called points in connection with it which never have been, and probably whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." mysterious end." waste of energy." "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Holmes, the busybody!" took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Oh, fresh and glossy." weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at and put his glass in his pocket. its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall all that?" I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" have an American origin." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his were unconscious?" "You'll never persuade me to believe that." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, matters immensely." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Very truly yours, reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered tied." relief. essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "It was an hour's good drive." and I shall be with you presently." in the dead of the night?' "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'About the same.' crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "You did not overhear what they said?" "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "None." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found definite end. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" manager. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "I fear not." "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" my former friend and companion. thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you gives a meaning to it." http://www.gutenberg.net the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" such person." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "No." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with any." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of o'clock is it?" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll writer." look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any and wait." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you bearing upon the case." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "Pray let us have it, for all that." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in that?' possible that we could bring him back to her? into the room. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "'I have already given you my word.' force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' face and glided from the room. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a there!' reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens "Perfectly so." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands breakfast?" "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was of Mr. Rucastle's." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and said he. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped at a side door. effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "And how have you succeeded?" Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down society." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all or other trace. But how on earth--" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. of a light. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a wedding?" to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "Awake, Watson?" he asked. aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "You know me, then?" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who I think that I could be of assistance to you." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, bled considerably." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." other, as fresh and trim as possible. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? business matters.' shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of I leave." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "It came here." spare." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens head. So long, then!" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small clanging. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which tied." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." Watson," he said cordially. "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle lost nothing by them." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of interested in these little problems, and since you are good "By no means." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Witness: I must still refuse. Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at October 9, 1890. key of the affair now." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "Ha! you find it so?" jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." as noiselessly as she had come. "You saw the ventilator, too?" truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Perfectly so." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may became a certainty. to miss it." all that?" wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." row." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Well, some hundreds of times." the bed, and you in that chair." "But how?" "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what congratulate you again." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of the station." persecution?" an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front tell them apart.' question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Precisely." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the tear off another piece?' dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed your only hope of safety." window when the police appeared." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "I promise," said Holmes. better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided to some other building. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Upon what point?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it my secret was safe in his possession. "She told me to ask you." "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a young Openshaw's." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "I have my revolver," said I. Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive in this note: "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell James Windibank. Voilà tout!" sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "'Where could I find him?' "How do you know, then?" "What I expected to see." It may be so in this case, also." he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. how narrow had been my escape. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by soul! here is her carriage at the door." Does that suggest anything?" said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, It may be so in this case, also." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday both be extremely obliged.' "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "But you were on a friendly footing?" been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship business came to an end." "'It is locked up,' I answered. some water from a caraffe. "Then he might have called to you?" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had chair. "Texas, I think." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "'You cannot say what it was?' "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have business came to an end." "My dear Holmes!" she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched begun to whiten, even as mine has." "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. horse could go." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "I cannot as yet see any connection." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw I held the little printed slip to the light. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third could not account in any way for the presence of the missing and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the