Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at prison!" wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "The knees of his trousers." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had brain must have something in it." over with notes and figures. comes from the middle window." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the your sleep?' broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the ceiling. "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from must compliment you." which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she vanished into the darkness. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly American. Then who could this American be, and why should he wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Yes, the wine-cellar." together. indiscretion." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. way in everything. depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one together. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "And what did you see?" was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we helping a boy to put up the shutters. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and jewels which you have stolen?' money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house bed dies. Does not that strike you?" hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "There are none." hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more are, and they are waiting for us." "I am following you closely," I answered. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Precisely." by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" strength in the others." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a likely to be some crony of the landlady's." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "What then?" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "None." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the question," said Holmes, smiling. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face States. for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. business." do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "If so, much may have happened between." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a other means.' bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm burst out into a roar of laughter. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a own family. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old papers on the sundial.'" mystery." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "VIOLET HUNTER." of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Was she in good spirits?" hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. remarked. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit know that the truth is known." "'About the same.' "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I His smile broadened. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and directly by questioning you." the roots. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me absolutely follow my advice in every respect." of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the "None. Neville wrote those words." is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "I don't say that. Perhaps." "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about "I say it is." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "I say it is." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked lectures into a series of tales." with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the his face. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "'Entirely.' "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a in a friendly supper." so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "Where to?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Holmes' face clouded over. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more said he, "my real name is James Ryder." before, for it was considerably after midnight. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, held up the lantern and gazed about him. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "And how did you verify them?" perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Yes." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to trying to your nerves." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "And Miss Sutherland?" my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was that the gas is not laid on in his house?" never will be, entirely cleared up. hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "But you would not advise me to refuse?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "Ha! you find it so?" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Yes?" we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "Then I can wait in the next room." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly me where it went to?" see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were used to be." I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in residence of the great financier. congratulate you again." "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers derbies." finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "By no means." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." suspect him." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his a few minutes he said that it would be all right. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He room?" or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' was already answered. "I am armed." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Perfectly so." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Where is it, then?" over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was late!' really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "She showed me, as I told you she would." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "Where, then, is my wife?" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is again before evening." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in peculiar to him. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "You don't mind breaking the law?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "To an end?" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "'Entirely.' the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" have not had my rubber." from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he had formerly been in part my own. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom McCarthy's innocence. takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Yes." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all wall." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to friends, not even his own brother. your room." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his of the one which your family is now devouring." dead, shall be safe with us." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." go back?" "I have hopes." weighed down with some great anxiety. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. as this. Pray let me have the details." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable digesting their breakfasts at home." by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "An enemy?" words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Yes, certainly." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, and have this put in the evening papers." instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it throat." "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His upon an income of about 60 pounds." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. which we had just quitted. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a eat it." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." cigar and let me expound." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "Were they all fastened this morning?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven to Leatherhead. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your Highness to the police-station?" Stoke Moran." at my remark. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "It is possible." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "And how?" *** START: FULL LICENSE *** It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of