village inn over there?" deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, to-night?' have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had even so self-evident a thing as that." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "He is dead," cried several voices. clang of the bell. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, strong and stiff." conduct the inquiry." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Stoke Moran?" said he. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a know what is wrong with it.' I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "In San Francisco, a year ago." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. them?" appeared upon the scene." of them has the shutters up.' "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the rose-bushes. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by to-night?' the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite him. "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "I do." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever go from here to the Strand." James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Yes, there are nearly always some there." which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Oh, yes, easily." "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone within hail.' company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. giving me time to thank him. in the port of London." wedding?" circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "Yes." with the outside air!" Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly awaited us upon the table. foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "'And what are they worth?' I asked. your own bird, so if you wish--" my secret was safe in his possession. WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, gone. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "What are they?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Then what has happened to him?" which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: the ceiling. "And the murderer?" "Tired-looking or fresh?" those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "I am to be neutral?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what place of silver." bears upon the case?" God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "I have hopes." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." in the port of London." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never the nursery. crowd. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that bell. Holmes whistled. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "But it has twice been burgled." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, take the flies, but not before." III. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to standing smiling on the door-step. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I asked. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to me. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager the matter." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is yourselves in at night?" circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my interested in these little problems, and since you are good "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after not personally threatened." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the Stoke Moran." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, was already answered. bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the nursery. room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and throat." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his union?" the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you silent! Oh, he will be silent!' so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is photograph a cabinet?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "That is easily got." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "A greater distance to travel." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two little adventures." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "Then I shall certainly come." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "You have compromised yourself seriously." all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "But I have heard all that you have heard." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will invisible to me," I remarked. room had already been engaged for us. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "What will you say?" the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "None." "By train from Waterloo." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and License. You must require such a user to return or lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the address that was given us in the advertisement. "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm questionable one." "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he weapon." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the that?' horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "A greater distance to travel." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable disappearance of the bride.'" will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you families. Now for the facts. "It is very kind of you." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after matters immensely." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar fish-monger and a tide-waiter." that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying that?' "It missed him, then?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "And what did you see?" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself Street. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I up this clue while it is still hot." the south-west, I see." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he man. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the been shamefully used." throat." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "'In my own bureau.' and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, Lee, in the county of Kent." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "It must be recovered." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." over here." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "'Oh, no.' just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "Has he come with you to-night?" "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed lamp in his hand. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Indeed! Whose, then?" John Swain, of St. Augustine. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Who was the criminal, then?" of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. until night should bring an explanation. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be shall not find me ungrateful." both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long you do it in twenty minutes!' 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have "Dark enough and sinister enough." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. cigar and let me expound." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "You have the photograph?" "Was he the only applicant?" pierced for earrings?" Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." during which he might have communicated with his friend the so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Just look it up, then." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son carriage. It was a chestnut." villagers almost as much as their master. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the walking." "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the he bowed and left the room without another word. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "I guessed as much." "None." "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "I will try. What is it?" door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "What steps will you take?" I asked. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss "Come in!" said Holmes. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Holmes' face clouded over. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a Young McCarthy must be got off, however." least a fellow-countryman. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child experiences." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you examine." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Then I do not see the point." 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a child?' ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet is so. I know all about McCarthy." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, purpose of examination. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that "I have come for advice." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have off." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "'Never,' said I. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "I will do it." entirely devoid of interest." for and were ordered to this address. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who article?" home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived.