Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "Have you it here?" held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his sufficient punishment." and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident there in twenty minutes." "No, I think that I'll take it." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." are windows in it, of course?" "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. considering the formidable letters which were received by himself ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered correct than the official force." eavesdroppers?' hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an tear off another piece?' refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to ventilator." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "The vanishing of the lady." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "'I am sure if I had known--' round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "Then, as to money?" he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has you found me to-night--and running through the front room she that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" into the room. "Who by?" thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been little adventures." key turn in the lock." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "Come in!" said he. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "Who by?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to said I. knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian "It is very kind of you." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "'I am sure if I had known--' very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this secret." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "Yes." Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Certainly." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the From what you have told me I think that it is possible that appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best His smile broadened. solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Ha! you find it so?" out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we unclasping of his long thin hands. "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "'Most admirably.' back into the street. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "'You cannot say what it was?' down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight observed. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a touch that coronet?' fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of morning." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in for securing the situation." sound at heart." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "A call for help, you thought?" 'I should be able to look after that for you.' as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has 'I should be able to look after that for you.' Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw The summons was a brief and urgent one. His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke was shining brightly. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now pressing in one house as in another. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "May I see it?" "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather Lestrade of Scotland Yard." high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about your room." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it business?" I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me notes," he said. comes from the middle window." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "He said that you could solve anything." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then had died away into the silence from which it rose. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias call the police, let the police find what they can.' "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father page at http://pglaf.org sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "Not I." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "One of the highest in England." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "You were travelling in the States?" our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each of them has the shutters up.' father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the families. Now for the facts. coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my The King stared at him in amazement. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "Do you go out much in society?" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "What?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love matter over." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, Munro.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my lamp in his hand. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his events, Mr. Windibank!" "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. not as remarkable as your advertisement." responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "We were both in the photograph." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and Street. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to me what he had done with the three missing stones. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "And what then?" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Yes, certainly." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "You have but to name it." foot. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora Eyford." Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. not come at once?" "Ample." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "I cannot as yet see any connection." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for tell him that I know him to be innocent." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "I came to find a friend." Farm upon the left." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me be.' indiscretion." Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "In which, sir?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Do you know him?" there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "I am sure." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "It was an hour's good drive." "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a to some other building. Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "She will not sell." sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a and glanced through. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." in. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings the room while you explain this matter?" Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of Edgeware Road. Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep fuss that is made over them." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "I know where it is." but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive to Leatherhead. you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the the coronet in his hands?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "Did he not advertise?" "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your comes from the middle window." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "And how in the world did you find them?" "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "The King of Scandinavia." Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to and the whole place is in a blaze." We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of laugh and put his lips to my ear. hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been his face which made him a very different person to the round, wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "You heard nothing yourself last night?" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "I will get her to show me." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "His face fell immediately. that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far what I may call a really hard day's work." struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Deserted you?" tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "'Then let me do so?' carriage. It was a chestnut." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "No more words. Get out!" lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated and I shall be with you presently." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the friend's singular character. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "Only as much as we can deduce." admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one depend upon my doing so.' through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it bedroom door." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "And why in hopes?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in What do you deduce from it?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "The King of Scandinavia." which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with forbidden door. what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "Your sister is dead, then?" sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in introspective fashion. "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate chambers. reach." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and walking." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and put his glass in his pocket. Arthur Conan Doyle get the tickets." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "I am following you closely," I answered. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses indeed which he could not unravel. the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "My dear Holmes!" "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken