Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with a suggestive one." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your yourselves in at night?" which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "I think that I had better go, Holmes." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon that I can to serve you." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry It was close upon four before the door opened, and a corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I guilty parties." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what way in." like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a towards the blaze. door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "I will, Miss Turner." beg that you will break it off." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good cup of tea. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven purpose of examination. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." weary and pale-looking. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever was feeling which was the fattest.' "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my have not had my rubber." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and bedroom door." of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "Yes, they were peculiar boots." one else, I think." "I would pay ten." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Henry Baker is a member." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Because he was handy and would come cheap." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "It is no ordinary one." the station." standing smiling on the door-step. much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we have had none more fantastic than this." keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her seen the man in the road." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I quickly through a disagreeable task. this poor creature." to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is for and were ordered to this address. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of in the port of London." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my what do you think they found in the pockets?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "My private note-paper." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he there in twenty minutes." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. confronted him. "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "I don't believe it." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, "They are typewritten," I remarked. "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "What! Had he lost his wife?" can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly him!" Edgeware Road. waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only bearing upon the case." "Ah!" steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Then I shall certainly come." roused himself from his reverie. events than those which have happened in my own family." security.' electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are had no one to advise her at such a crisis." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "It is possible." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the so far?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as side. of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "You are hungry," I remarked. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for to-night." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which strength of mind to control. with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did hurried away. "I should like to see him very much." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "I will do it." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is breakfast and whispered something to her husband. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four chill to my heart. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." meant it for the best. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham points in connection with it which never have been, and probably and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. I shall communicate with you." the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." were wasted." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood had this final quarrel? and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "That is easily got." you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it my friend's incisive reasoning. lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "On your arm?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin have been better. It is all right." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he call it cruel." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "Not him." without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "How can you tell that?" me." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with in this way: particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what Edgeware Road. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still future lives." or in danger--" it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. companion quietly. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." closing the door. "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his noise which awoke you from your sleep?" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "'Then let me do so?' He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so compunction about shooting them down." fuss that is made over them." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of within hail.' at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray occupations.' possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in corner of the building. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away coroner's jury." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this a monotonous occupation." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over envelope. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "It is very kind of you." cheerful." noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not Sholtos." are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind occupations.' You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty vanished into the darkness. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in his grey eyes. "Really! You surprise me." "Pray do so." and the colonel ushered me in. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Pray let us have it, for all that." long narrative. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "'Most admirably.' first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the was lame." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over so far?" with you alone." begun to whiten, even as mine has." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but in his hands." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and of the vacancies.' considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "Nothing." years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Quite so." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." acquaintance?" His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. of the vacancies.' death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was man. I know him from the photograph." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was think you a quite exceptional woman." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, have had none more fantastic than this." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Do you go out much in society?" often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Have you it here?" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly and laid it on the table. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new recover the gem." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I the station." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. been shamefully used." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that shall not find me ungrateful." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Yes, I have one waiting." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite careless servant girl?" address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, disappearance of these gems?" Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely young Openshaw's." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic words came to my lips. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no get the tickets." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." you." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. assist you in forming an opinion." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, I leave." "In the cells." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Two days later this same performance was gone through under the bed, and you in that chair." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I