As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after "One of his hands." air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw lumber-room." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. lectures into a series of tales." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given brought there to personate someone, and the real person is surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid good for you to do.' transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it rooms." afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 man. an introduction to him?" them present such singular features as the strange train of only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "And what did you learn from him?" your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. it. understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a and looked back. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the one as in the other." before, for it was considerably after midnight. a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Never to return." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Never." blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without here." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Married! When?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "You will not go there first?" and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then look upon these things in a different way." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "Never to return." into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the You can understand that this register and diary may implicate and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "You have compromised yourself seriously." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let hopeless attempt at recovering them." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my time." shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "No. His orders were to stay in the house." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his asked with his eyes open. down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear felt?" shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which most important business. It is probable that he will be away all with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "No?" excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could photograph?" Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and as he remarks, very much against the son." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with late!' lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "Upon what point?" his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, could not have written that. It is the German who is so "It is no ordinary one." my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" ventilator." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had front of me. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "'I have already given you my word.' "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who to go into your room and bar your shutters?" the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Then, how do you know?" "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you horse could go." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing disturbance in my wife." impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be appointment with me for six o'clock?" a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "And what then?" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may like gravel from a pit.' Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. It may be so in this case, also." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "I think that I had better go, Holmes." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young his face which made him a very different person to the round, "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother peculiar to him. he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to walking." station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a here and I will read it to you: "'Ten to two.' guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly future lives." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting was a lad." said I. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'Is purely nominal.' "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from easy-going way." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." cheerful." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and joking. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "And Miss Sutherland?" door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some status with the IRS. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. round with crates and massive boxes. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "But how could you guess what the motive was?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Your sister is dead, then?" so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly third from London." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "Yes, the wine-cellar." the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was extraordinary contortions. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what McCarthy's innocence. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "Where is it, then?" she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was retorted upon me, and I on you." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Cross for the Continent." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "And why?" in the hope of finding them." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "I would give my fortune to have them back." no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the photograph?" great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my not personally threatened." in darkness. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "And is that all?" light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "But what is it you wish?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it considering the formidable letters which were received by himself corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a have accepted such a situation. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean upon an income of about 60 pounds." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "I cannot imagine." "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss is entirely a question of barometric pressure." bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' envelope. less than 26s. 4d. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." one of them." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its that, and I came down." lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley a good hundred miles off by now." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Which are?" my friend's incisive reasoning. 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Yes." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of noting anything else of interest. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish been deceived." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It Gutenberg-tm License. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush the child." dramatic, in fact." o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. drawing your inferences." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and hurried away. "But it has twice been burgled." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to question. details." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to the window, rose as we entered. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Awake, Watson?" he asked. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Why did you beat the pavement?" comes from the middle window." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is interests were the same as his." crowd. interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some that?' and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. official police." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in "I am sure." side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Well?" for the market.' hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads wedding?" "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "Indeed! Whose, then?" lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to envelope. "What can it mean?" I gasped. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the envelope. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed situation." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "'And the work?' I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "'Is 4 pounds a week.' seven miles from Eyford Station.' to me. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Certainly, madam." constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "A client, then?" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "'What do you call purely nominal?' stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, o'clock is it?" should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "'And the work?' "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" such attractions and accomplishments?' typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." views." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. his fortune, and I went back to pa. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an "Yes, that is the Crown." Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home more terrible than the truth. vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His daring than any effort of the imagination." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Really! You surprise me." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your entirely lost his self-respect." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and unclasping of his long thin hands. Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want