lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "Come in!" said he. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was and glanced through. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "And leave your case unfinished?" "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "I cannot imagine." while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening sit on the left-hand side of the driver." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father asked with his eyes open. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Countess of Morcar's?" "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Your presence might be invaluable." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the the running down." pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up him nearly every evening." best detective that ever lived. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "I guessed as much." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "'And the work?' "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. into her hand at the door and which lured her within their geese which you supplied to the Alpha." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "That sounds a little paradoxical." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "Of what day?" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of which I could not give. He asked for Alice. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not handed it to him. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly you understand?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which October 9, 1890. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless his grey eyes. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to one of the states of the Union." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Perhaps I have." incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of II. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "My own seal." "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether results." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. Where does the thing come from?' us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments such person." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "And is that all?" you." memory. He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' "But what will you do?" "'As governess?' back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, felt?" Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be fattened it expressly for you.' with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two with you?" "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. details." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the me what he had done with the three missing stones. and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "You have but to name it." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to me have 200 pounds?' disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a do you make of it all?" less than 26s. 4d. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "'There is a drive, then?' "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been The telegram which we eventually received came late one night to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the place of silver." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property to miss it." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went again." "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to bill, which interests me deeply." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout nice household for a young lady." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and girl said." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'A dozen yards or so.' the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." get the tickets." "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own I held the little printed slip to the light. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley child?' this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, a little more before I quite committed myself. and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a intimate personal affairs in this public manner." inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "But we can't all be." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and tassel actually lying upon the pillow. arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson in darkness. to miss it." "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran presented more singular features than that which was associated red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the tell me that you intended to go into harness." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of his fortune, and I went back to pa. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." and laid it on the table. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious "Perhaps I have." door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the there is a decided draught." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "What then?" your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel notes," he said. attention." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a the side-table." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of been deceived." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "An enemy?" "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you to-morrow." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! tapping his fingers upon the table. analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the and prosperity to your house. Good-night." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions and looked back. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one records." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend his fortune, and I went back to pa. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural said Mr. Holder. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can Holmes' thin, eager face. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Where does the thing come from?' perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "And how did you find out?" "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort unkempt, staring out at me. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying present strange and interesting features that it is no easy round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which gone. that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. of." overpowering excitement and concern. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "It is solved." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you the King without delay." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was laugh and put his lips to my ear. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Why? What do you mean?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "Eh? What was that?" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment memory. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. most interesting one." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take bled considerably." "You heard nothing yourself last night?" the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he was not a bird to be seen there. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Dr. Becher's." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he not use it unless it is absolutely needed." chance at all." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "But what will you do?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped shoulder. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. which we had just quitted. upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Will you bet, then?" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who during that time.' the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal would then never go into court at all." 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.' triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty suspect him." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at lumber-room." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and quick march!" aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "Yes, sir." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you of receipt of the work. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." situation." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is before the coroner and the police-court." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture I was concerned in it." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the bearing upon the case." "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for the devil!" it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "The Coroner: What do you mean? "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I the nursery. including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists me upon any point which I do not make clear." his cane at the bell-pull. her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "How did he come?" and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "I am following you closely," I answered. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six served to weaken the effect. me where it went to?" certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, to-night's adventure." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and prepare for the new role I have to play." "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "Entirely." his fortune, and I went back to pa. wanted for ourselves." large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had help us in this matter." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study "An accident, I presume?" on in his house." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer in the dead of the night?' would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "By no means." envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "But she will refuse." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt him to be an active member of the medical profession." get her out of the way." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for think that any burglar could have done. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "Won't it ring?" at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "How many? I don't know." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "To ruin me." the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone