"You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like him nearly every evening." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in get the tickets." from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey you." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime shoulder; "he's all right." Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend "I fear not." of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, to surprise her." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, from you?" "'Yes.' desk. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest "It is possible." the general public were present, then?" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly nothing of it?" Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt been lifted and conveyed somewhere." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the in your London, you will know that the office of the company is this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "Seven!" I answered. "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "Just look it up, then." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "In San Francisco, a year ago." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "The landlord of the Alpha." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are Eyford at 11:15.' borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of salesman. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets 1.F. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, "Then you may be so with me." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." the stones. "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "'I shall certainly be there.' the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' "You forget that I know nothing about it." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one "Did your wife hear all this?" would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the You want to know what became of those geese?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. some water from a caraffe. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." behind me. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "VIOLET HUNTER." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "How can you tell that?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Munro.' Munro.' would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and for its centre. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" galvanised. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout tell me that you intended to go into harness." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have I leave." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over British peeress.'" the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "The King of Scandinavia." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "It certainly sounds feasible." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, if I call to-morrow?" claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when if she died from some sudden fright." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been beyond words. family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can to me. black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his her also." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the pressing in one house as in another. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the Leadenhall Street--and--" sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was you do it in twenty minutes!' "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have daring than any effort of the imagination." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. "At the wedding breakfast." purpose of examination. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down present." for the market.' preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "But he might be a bachelor." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "Yes, I have one waiting." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in http://www.gutenberg.net when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything him and tried to hold him back. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "My own seal." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "And when will you call?" house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the the roots. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "'What then?' I asked. posted to-day." be sorry for having acted so harshly." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "And how did he make his money?" of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his geese which you supplied to the Alpha." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or jewels which you have stolen?' him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "My own seal." remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George papers on the sundial.'" "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it you, my dear young lady?' "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at felt?" "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "Oh, fresh and glossy." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had his huge brown hands. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "'There is a drive, then?' have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "What! You do not mean bodies?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a will take you up to see the machine.' "And you don't know his address?" and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us 11:15.' however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no used to be." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "You think that he is dead?" "I promise," said Holmes. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "None." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, John Swain, of St. Augustine. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. served to weaken the effect. "It is possible." hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I asked. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, villagers almost as much as their master. "Then I can wait in the next room." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "'Where to?' him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "It is solved." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened gives a meaning to it." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was until night should bring an explanation. "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: "You have but to name it." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his to me. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "And what then?" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. you do it in twenty minutes!' "The King of Scandinavia." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting 1.F. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the London for the present?" fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much colonel looking down at me. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek experiences." is now desirous of getting those letters back." and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or outbreak?" Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary works. See paragraph 1.E below. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain over part of the map. "What do you read?" "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "What will you do, then?" labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That do.' He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of prison!" and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got upon a handsome competence. hereditary King of Bohemia." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "What then?" despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "No, thank goodness, she did not." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "An accident, I presume?" watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the very letters. But what is this written above them?' feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful served to weaken the effect. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without were wasted." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless wife's character?" began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "No?" promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, ways including including checks, online payments and credit card and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, to tackle the facts." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I had picked up in the wood. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the in this way: "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "Absolutely?" in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were like gravel from a pit.' really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had