the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" without a word or a look. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with digesting their breakfasts at home." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a politicians who had been sent down from the North. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and than was visible to me." wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after excitement. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "What then?" It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "On your arm?" the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of man. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking for the market.' many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "You horrify me!" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting footfalls from the street. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I Holmes." we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of floor. "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "I say that I have solved it." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. call the police, let the police find what they can.' License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage what these perils are?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. drove away. "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, call you and give you the chance." had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "Pray tell us what has happened to you." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Could he throw no light?" old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped humiliation." saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and your equipment. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with matter." shaken than I had ever seen him. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but all-comprehensive glances. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a really the only notable feature about the thing." "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Pope's Court, Fleet Street." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and joking. he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. interest. They are important, you understand, without being "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' http://www.gutenberg.net "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "And the cigar-holder?" "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual chill to my heart. heavily into it. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill cigar and let me expound." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of way in everything. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled past. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "So I heard. You have him here?" "To ruin me." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I have an American origin." way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Then you may be so with me." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their indiscretion." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the is acting for the best. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when tension within him. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the results." "Nearly eleven." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." Eyford at 11:15.' in his power. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up flock.' quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my wedding?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" few hundred pounds.' "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, how narrow had been my escape. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." Does that suggest anything?" but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away once more to my work. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." was already answered. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other there." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." intrusion of other matters." may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on together. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "And I to find an enemy." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the was a loud and authoritative tap. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Dark enough and sinister enough." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Yes." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is just ask you whether you had heard it.' A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience detective. I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "Yes, all." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt correct than the official force." prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that in darkness. think that he is innocent?" "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the to miss it." side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted think, you have already met." Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than written. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "You forget that I know nothing about it." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw of them has the shutters up.' would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and companion. Street. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; charged with?" Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "No." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but promised to bring home. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an away to you." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "How are you getting on?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, some city in a dream. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I warn you that they are very incomplete." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are the armchair which I pushed forward for him. dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Perhaps we may make them less so." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet name is different." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons dear old homesteads?" drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "One of his hands." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn of this gang." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers chance at all." terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after Leave Paddington by the 11:15." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. me. You must get home instantly and act." therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a his face. "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but introspective fashion. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the meanly of me." "This photograph!" had a long day." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. "But he might be a bachelor." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from future lives." clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick me what he had done with the three missing stones. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads a little more before I quite committed myself. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in crowd. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' this remarkable episode. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in future lives." galvanised. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said but preventing her from injuring another. of Mr. Rucastle's." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of held up the lantern and gazed about him. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure of Fenchurch Street." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "But how could you guess what the motive was?" with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "What then?" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." when you have done it." would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "'You cannot say what it was?' hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "Never." to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon What do you deduce from it?" either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. have accepted such a situation. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My fatally injured? opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his dates and names. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project standing smiling on the door-step. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. village inn over there?" "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "'And the work?' remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to legal crime." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to together. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double DISSOLVED. "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. did not hear it also.' naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is you in your example." married her." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for present." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Yes, that is the Crown." hour." seen the man in the road." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we third from London." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small to tell." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Not yet." admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Cross for the Continent." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I look upon these things in a different way." from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, photograph?" huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. companion quietly. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," one of the states of the Union."