a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down business." "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "How did you deduce the select?" We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into money should be paid at once.' your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the his face. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the DAMAGE. but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your speckled band?" and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing when you have done it." memory. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know such attractions and accomplishments?' a room. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given seen the man in the road." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally results." swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," said I. "Will you go?" seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of people don't know." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down congenial hunt. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian photograph?" would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have in the dead of the night?' which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an him to be an active member of the medical profession." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "But I have heard all that you have heard." "10th. John Swain cleared. known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really brandy and water within his reach. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray Street. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "Yes." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven down in his armchair and closing his eyes. nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there fait accompli?" landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had think, you have already met." deduce something from that?" brought there to personate someone, and the real person is III. the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at photograph a cabinet?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "It is possible." coroner's jury." "I will not look." "And why?" questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and "Yes, sir." you." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Not I." Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive right! Sit down and let us talk it over." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the that he has suffered." have I gained?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that lost his Christmas dinner." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "You have the photograph?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion to have been novel and of interest." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' placed his cuttings. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the to arrive at through this?" and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing window when the police appeared." morning." "And how did you find out?" "My dear Holmes!" have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your could gather together that I was able to avert another public "You know me, then?" drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an my former friend and companion. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you it? Did I buy the geese off you?" Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project written, and locked the door of the office after me. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." you do it in twenty minutes!' room. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went Pope's Court, Fleet Street." few hundred pounds.' been anything against him. He had for years been known as a foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to where she found matters as described by the last witness. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was had picked up in the wood. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "Won't it ring?" statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a returning from some small jollification and was making his way before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that outside." that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "You have a clue?" unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the followed. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked what is your own theory as to what took place?" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I had died away into the silence from which it rose. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Yes." "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked in your London, you will know that the office of the company is and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual amused." in darkness. "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been crime. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent II. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite writers could invent nothing more crude." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One subject to the trademark license, especially commercial character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "Yes." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "'Stolen!' he cried. "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "By all means." the loss of it. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "What! Had he lost his wife?" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "Married! When?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" followed. trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "You have but to name it." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' forbidden door. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked it? Did I buy the geese off you?" and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny to affect your life." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the from the brougham. just called myself is not exactly my own." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have introspective fashion. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" asked. before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "No, finished." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it John Swain, of St. Augustine. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he tied." 11:15.' Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, the best of training." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." something of him before." it." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "And on what day did he meet his death?" bears upon the case?" As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, bare slabs of marble. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches that there was nothing in it, after all." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we have one." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' records." We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City must be when I saw the door open.' "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Seven!" I answered. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "There is the writing." am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "And Miss Sutherland?" glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "I have solved it." brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that "Then I am your man." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "Nothing." "Was he the only applicant?" have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private recover the gem." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before be.' disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "I cannot say that I have." shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is outside. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the Countess of Morcar's?" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and writers could invent nothing more crude." "The King of Scandinavia." hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand them?" call for it in person on Monday morning.' "'Is 4 pounds a week.' puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside of Fenchurch Street." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other with you alone." prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' with you alone." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, started for the Temple to see my husband. fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "And it is--" fattened it expressly for you.' lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and appointment with me for six o'clock?" of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, train.' finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek into her hand at the door and which lured her within their There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "'Never.' bearing upon the case." "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We