Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "No, I had a dozen." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had business came to an end." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. examination of the premises, but without finding anything which terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before Have you good authority for what you say?" from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the it." "Not I." have an American origin." "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "It certainly sounds feasible." the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She touch that coronet?' thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your knowledge of the world." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have written, and locked the door of the office after me. they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "The gentleman I describe." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he sneer upon his pale face. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "But not more so than I to find you." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "What will you do, then?" away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no 'I should be able to look after that for you.' hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening without a word or a look. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, upon a handsome competence. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "What have you done?" asked Holmes. to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a done what I asked you, Jones?" home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table could go. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as over with notes and figures. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. the Assizes." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that your only hope of safety." eat it." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking individual and becomes the badge of a society." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "You know me, then?" perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had completely overtopped every other consideration that we both robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these anything to do with the matter?" already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "Yes. He waved his hands." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the of a light. metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" once more. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? in the dead of the night?' shaken than I had ever seen him. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "'Where could I find him?' may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter charged with?" bedroom door." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "I will do it." emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "Then he might have called to you?" "None. Neville wrote those words." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from breakfast." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left both be extremely obliged.' you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until over here." as the one I chose?' after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "There are none." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. as noiselessly as she had come. "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "How about poison?" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "'Yes, sir.' upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be in a very precise fashion." morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he once more. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "Stolen, then." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds leave you to your papers for a little." that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable minor matters until to-morrow." quick march!" eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying noting anything else of interest. morning." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune already been minutely examined." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door the stable lane now." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. as noiselessly as she had come. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do as the one I chose?' yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when cheerful." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "No, I think that I'll take it." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "A call for help, you thought?" the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "The Coroner: What do you mean? sooner or later she must fall a victim. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." be best to do. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. the inner apartment." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are said he, "my real name is James Ryder." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master himself. some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was said I. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at believe that I should never have any practice at all. Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that The police have openly confessed that they can at present make wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Did your wife hear all this?" The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a most interesting one." "I shall most certainly do so." "What do you mean?" "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his very old mansion. told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would have I gained?" instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "What! Had he lost his wife?" I took the paper from him and read as follows: "Then I do not see the point." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "But what will you do?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "Where, then?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for man. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a It was close upon four before the door opened, and a paper in the air. it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "I am about to be married." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land chambers. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but married her." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included me where it went to?" headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, presented more singular features than that which was associated Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two upon the white wrist. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "I assure you that I am in your hands." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring not interfere, come what may. You understand?" rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "It was a confession," I ejaculated. the inner apartment." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "Pray tell us what has happened to you." him!" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black Pope's Court, Fleet Street." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that and inquire as to the address." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to she used." them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss "Entirely." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, wife's character?" Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read maid will bring up your coffee." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "That is it on the dressing-table." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous dramatic, in fact." "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had My friend smiled. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. Henry Baker is a member." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "It is solved." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all The events in question occurred in the early days of my comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are child?' "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my read it out to me." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the character. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a them present such singular features as the strange train of named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "He is still with you, I presume?" something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. woman." therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "It was a confession," I ejaculated. of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle ventilator." Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "No?" The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "You have a clue?" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "No sign of it?" behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less do.' the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day The note was undated, and without either signature or address. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "But you were on a friendly footing?" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to Farm upon the left." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. London for the present?" established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused yards of it?' probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss down. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "What are they?" finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "What are they?" "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I eavesdroppers?' fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I