breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat wanted for ourselves." carpenter." side. metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "That was it, sir." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "What then?" without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round and it need not interfere very much with one's other the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, residence of the great financier. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Proceed, then." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "You were travelling in the States?" are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "You are certainly joking, Holmes." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "I say that I have solved it." "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" have accepted such a situation. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? instincts rose up against that laugh. Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We when your master had gone out." "It certainly sounds feasible." much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission taking in every detail of the apartment. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. quite distinctive." hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated to tell." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of washing it down with a long draught of water. skylight. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "And from a noble client?" unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, the side-table." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. have got?" violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for whole matter to your consideration." "'Stolen!' he cried. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they thirty. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Eyford." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in McCarthy's innocence. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "But how could you guess what the motive was?" expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been up this clue while it is still hot." Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our of Fenchurch Street." his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "But of what society?" observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our approach us with offers to donate. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not ashen face. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. shoulder; "he's all right." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a floor. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs one of them." I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "What do you make of that, Watson?" more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the spare." strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the some city in a dream. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking tapping his fingers upon the table. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any made him keep the appointment." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a begin with, and I had not got mine yet." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank "A call for help, you thought?" Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless salesman. "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. himself to tell his story. "Pray continue your narrative." have accepted such a situation. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless forecastle of an emigrant ship. should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took wedding?" Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to attention." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my shaken than I had ever seen him. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am feature." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "And who is her maid?" a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Very truly yours, "Yes, certainly." along the entire front of the house, with three long windows There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window papers." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at the coronet at all injured?" the so-precious time, but come!' papers on the sundial.'" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his unprofitable." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "ARAT," I read. handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. maiden herself was most instructive." Does that suggest anything?" "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Again Holmes raved in the air. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "Precisely." that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "'What then?' I asked. Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "No." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Eh? What was that?" "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive as he remarks, very much against the son." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will fasten all the windows?" "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now strode off upon his way. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. "And now?" He raised his hand. "No, distinctly professional." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of unprofitable." do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the placed his cuttings. object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was down in his armchair and closing his eyes. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is do.' "Nothing?" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "To ruin me." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "And I say east," said my patient. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a get the tickets." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To my former friend and companion. considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "You heard nothing yourself last night?" *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. the bed, and you in that chair." "I cannot imagine." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The me. you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain his face. case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs his eyes and forehead. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "One?" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had their singular warning or token before them when starting upon buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a "A client, then?" it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly morning." been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, posted to-day." to miss it." learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are vault. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some lips." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray tell him that I know him to be innocent." cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "What then?" "What! a murderous attack?" photograph?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and individual and becomes the badge of a society." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of name is different." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into sit on the left-hand side of the driver." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "Yes, only one." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the the little opening for the ventilator is." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" have established a very serious case against the son of the direction." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' cigars in the box." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building said I. and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed just ask you whether you had heard it.' "But we can't all be." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in gone before you can get him to hospital." all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a walking." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Yes, he did." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." to change my dress. call it cruel." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "But of what society?" far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave The events in question occurred in the early days of my He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to "So I heard. You have him here?" "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little father's young wife. "I answered that I had not. saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this that I am arrested." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with Project Gutenberg-tm works. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about to-night?' that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining never came back." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely question. "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker fait accompli?" would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "'And what are they worth?' I asked. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her persecution?" then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible crackling voice. description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "No." I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the wife's character?" inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most evidence," I remarked. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, bachelor.' felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me