left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try the nursery. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Sutherland?" awkward doing business with an alias." to a more successful conclusion." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in into her hand at the door and which lured her within their one else, I think." ago." cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a confronted him. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "No, I think that I'll take it." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already joking. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has key turn in the lock." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and to tell." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods she has been waylaid. There has been no result." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But becomes even more simple." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that must be when I saw the door open.' the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; again before evening." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. the Red-headed League." wedding?" "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "My Mary? Impossible!" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without tension within him. "No more words. Get out!" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in chance." array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Holmes." She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two point our research must commence, and we will begin it by pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to fashion which was peculiar to him. "No, finished." see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that telegram would bring me down to your help." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" as he folded up the epistle. "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "At half-wages, in fact." safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "It is very kind of you." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not which we had just quitted. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an this unhappy family?" door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. The note was undated, and without either signature or address. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but these bleak autumnal evenings." "In the cells." to have been novel and of interest." "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, think you a quite exceptional woman." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it is acting for the best. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give were new raised from a basin. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "'Then let me do so?' I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and them?" and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are you in yours." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when the salesman. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be narrative." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the closely." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to to miss it." the coronet in his hands?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Absolutely none." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "At what time?" I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch anything to a woman, for she would have her way." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous least a most suspicious remark." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "'You doubt its value?' he asked. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for not fit the lock." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a face and glided from the room. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left details." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I breakfast?" the stable lane now." unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' his face which made him a very different person to the round, "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. peculiar to him. o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we you give your casting vote to?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There enter Dr. Roylott's room." immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "The vanishing of the lady." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips on in his house." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our learned something! Where are the gems?" Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will whereabouts. Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it becomes even more simple." by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "One of his hands." The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little and laid it on the table. "You think so, too?" broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. to a light-house. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Miss Holder?" didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the salesman. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "On Monday." narrative." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close for securing the situation." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Never." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, fear." "Where to?" which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I woven round him. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. sound at heart." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should over here." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "Upon what point?" first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! ceremony." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "And for present expenses?" without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "'Not at all. I only doubt--' Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of place of silver." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "So I have heard." gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Pray do so." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty written, and locked the door of the office after me. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Nothing." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" "And how in the world did you find them?" besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and tail." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, him nearly every evening." reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black for securing the situation." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. vault. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "It is very kind of you." Surrey." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could and the whole place is in a blaze." the ceiling. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of the matter." "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very reach." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a cheerful." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a works. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "We must sit without light. He would see it through the way in." "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast that?' her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most been deceived." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "Of what?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "Game for a morning drive?" was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" noise which awoke you from your sleep?" The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all over here." them, and came down just as you departed. "'Where could I find him?' himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped you want, then?' matter over." felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "That's no good." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had it. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "To the police?" severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "You have the photograph?" as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid memory. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the writer." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "You will not go there first?" are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "Where to?" not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "That's no good." "I am to be neutral?" money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of