"It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece interests were the same as his." "It may not come to that," said Holmes. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are affection." respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating friend's singular character. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and writing, and yet I know it well." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I into the room. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by of campaign. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "That is possible." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "What is it, then--a fire?" mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of call it cruel." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Texas, I think." outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of both be extremely obliged.' abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty garden below. five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but about here speaks of his kindness to him." "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "And your father? Did you tell him?" gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' that the gas is not laid on in his house?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "Of what day?" where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "Always." McCarthy." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "Very murderous indeed." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "I was certainly surprised to find you there." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "Very well, sir. And this stone?" the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "And Irene Adler?" wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and have been better. It is all right." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Of Friday, June 19th." God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from telegram would bring me down to your help." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses this as likely?" the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, yourselves in at night?" "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich works. See paragraph 1.E below. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "The rest you will leave in our hands." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you is worth.' the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the never to learn it at all." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for ready to-morrow?' it. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the you came in." "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." seven miles from Eyford Station.' blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at the coronet at all injured?" upon a handsome competence. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I at my own good fortune. http://www.gutenberg.net explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "What of the rat, then?" particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. lost nothing by them." WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO voice, changing her seat as requested. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two train.' "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as learned something! Where are the gems?" The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, not come at once?" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "And that is--" home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up eat it." and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "Witness: Nothing definite. "If so, much may have happened between." test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "'What would be the hours?' I asked. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon are, and they are waiting for us." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "'Is purely nominal.' explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. least a most suspicious remark." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining as he folded up the epistle. her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "You know me, then?" against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "That was it, sir." unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable as this. Pray let me have the details." "But you can know nothing of this?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." you?" father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he bedroom door." the morning and make my own way in the world.' object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? Munro.' feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and served to weaken the effect. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. detained." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several himself to hunt down. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "This concluded the examination of the witness." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "Yes, but only for you and me." thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "But what will you do?" woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and nothing of it?" Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose which I could not give. He asked for Alice. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "Who by?" the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of affair. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the are windows in it, of course?" "That is not always so easy." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "Then I shall certainly come." it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us hard-headed British jury." We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which letters?" very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "And why in hopes?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," business came to an end." assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's mystery may be cleared along those lines." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "And how in the world did you find them?" ready to-morrow?' "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. open." upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. sparkled upon his finger. upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis interested in these little problems, and since you are good seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Clair, of Lee." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "At the wedding breakfast." "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "Her father is very rich?" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "'Tell me all about it,' said I. furiously. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' and glanced through. in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one nice household for a young lady." about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "'Very good.' permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no of them has the shutters up.' little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed lamp. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations have had none more fantastic than this." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that bore every mark of being an average commonplace British writer." was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and matter." "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. his cane at the bell-pull. train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "I will not look." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she helping a boy to put up the shutters. "There are none." States. we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a The telegram which we eventually received came late one night room?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Sholtos." newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. formed some opinion?" "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress or in danger--" Count Von Kramm." "In what way?" asked Holmes. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front the one as in the other." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover "No. His orders were to stay in the house." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which "And why?" revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it showing my impatience. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the if only as a check to my own memory." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "It is possible." so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "Very murderous indeed." lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or "You are hungry," I remarked. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Then, how do you know?" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "He said too much." unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "I have a cab outside." "Yes?" "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door too. I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "And I to find an enemy." sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'I have already given you my word.' am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, to change my dress. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into cigars in their mouths. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "How about poison?" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered