"That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "That's no good." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would said he at last. hand, madam?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "Quite so." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few pictures, libraries, or plate. brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "What have you done?" asked Holmes. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Yes, sir." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a said I. the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "Pray let us have it, for all that." hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. where she found matters as described by the last witness. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our not within a twentieth part of the market price." that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the writers could invent nothing more crude." overpowering excitement and concern. "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by definite end. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. I am not easy in my mind about them." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he undoubtedly my uncle's." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "At half-wages, in fact." we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my my little problems." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you there when the Rucastles went away." places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." hair?' It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to horse could go." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in confronted him. hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "9th. McCauley cleared. "Certainly." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again seem to you to be relevant or not." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which papers on the sundial.'" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present yourselves in at night?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be golden eyeglasses. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Serpentine Avenue. Sholtos." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in "One of the highest in England." effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But tightly behind him. wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." furiously. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view prepare for the new role I have to play." hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no clanging. reach." "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is outside." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles tell him that I know him to be innocent." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "'Quite sure, dad.' "Never." routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a cigars in their mouths. as the one I chose?' appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" your bag." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at may never be exposed to such a temptation." Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring matters immensely." it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, this man was intellectual?" to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and happened." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the such person." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "'Yes, I promise.' out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a bill, which interests me deeply." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave the bed, and you in that chair." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "Come in!" said he. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Why serious?" thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "What! You do not mean bodies?" "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The arrested. You then--" certainly not very gracious." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "Yes, that is the Crown." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "They are typewritten," I remarked. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room one of the states of the Union." mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one papers must be those that are destroyed.' go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened know all about it," he snarled. indeed which he could not unravel. "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Do you know him?" the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "Nor running a chance of arrest?" stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with these bleak autumnal evenings." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, with you alone." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "'Ample.' great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the these bleak autumnal evenings." "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one other, as fresh and trim as possible. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." green of the new foliage. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was guilty one." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Why serious?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a desk. must be when I saw the door open.' fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "She walked into the breakfast-room." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding out." "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "My own seal." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled certainly not very gracious." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the papers." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "And your mother is alive?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "A client, then?" the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." lamp. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "It must be recovered." that I can to serve you." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, woven round him. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "'Entirely.' of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "You have a clue?" subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same more terrible than the truth. society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name appointment with me for six o'clock?" your co-operation." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the paper in the air. train.' upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I of campaign. "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of may never be exposed to such a temptation." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any entirely devoid of interest." stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Yes, from Horsham." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "What can you not understand?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Where, indeed?" of them has the shutters up.' which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were Leave Paddington by the 11:15." basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by new duties?' while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you weary and pale-looking. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary my room." "No legal papers or certificates?" himself to hunt down. "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of morning." was a perfect sample of the class. you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "But how?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in the bed, and you in that chair." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered seen the man in the road." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another that you can jump it.' At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he in darkness. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the side. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat companion. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to interested in these little problems, and since you are good his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Doctor, of the paper and the date." found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see wall." tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he you found me to-night--and running through the front room she That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which "And now?" He raised his hand. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she matter over." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between direction." "But to whom?" "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man Henry Baker is a member." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I friends, not even his own brother. when you have done it." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to