she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he in darkness. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently he died? smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and reach." your Highness to the police-station?" of his shoulders. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for yet." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a telegram would bring me down to your help." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY meant." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." jewels which you have stolen?' at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from may have an influence upon European history." without a word or a look. as yours." for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had chance." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but emerged. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass there was no need for father to know." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Was there a secret marriage?" has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was you found me to-night--and running through the front room she VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given the inner apartment." bled considerably." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Witness: It was. of the vacancies.' "When did it break out?" station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while habit of advancing money.' here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea highly," said Holmes. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Sholtos." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in had a long day." villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend in his power. problems help me to do so." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, sofa. This way, please!" lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we up this clue while it is still hot." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently all?" The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Yes, all." "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable highly," said Holmes. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" that there was nothing in it, after all." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "And you can do nothing until then?" 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern completely overtopped every other consideration that we both and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they nonsense.' she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, deduce something from that?" very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the you." "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if to have that photograph." "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "But it has twice been burgled." to surprise her." of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, little trying to do so much typewriting?" "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other The summons was a brief and urgent one. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was absorbing." lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more This is what he says: "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "That was it, sir." dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." should be taken.' here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "It is a murder, then?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to spark where all is dark to me." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say his knees, staring into the fire. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? like that before?" but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, your most interesting statement." "From his hat?" consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "Pray do so." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, been anything against him. He had for years been known as a 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "And I." head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "Where is it, then?" it were putty." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. direction." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his tassel actually lying upon the pillow. fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I to-night?" I asked. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him way in everything. "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a rat could hardly pass through." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in respectable self." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless tassel actually lying upon the pillow. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable three fields round his house, and there he would take his confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while to a more successful conclusion." "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." sake, don't!" at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches tassel actually lying upon the pillow. that he will be back before evening." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the felt?" as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. or other trace. But how on earth--" It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your fear." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." Young McCarthy must be got off, however." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "'Is 4 pounds a week.' have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "But your client--" A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "It came here." because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can answer." "You know me, then?" opened the door, and slipped through. arrangements." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "Yes, sir." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and he died? The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George room had already been engaged for us. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small points to suicide?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this happened." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Won't it ring?" other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." taking in every detail of the apartment. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some Pool. papers." would apply.' dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment you in yours." (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking beg that you will break it off." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "I shall most certainly do so." "Then how many are there?" business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my your most interesting statement." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "Quite so." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of skylight. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made from the brougham. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the things are very often connected not with the larger but with the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he said I. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old criminal. We have already had experience of such." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke bachelor.' "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, gives a meaning to it." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was overpowering excitement and concern. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to the dangers which encompass me." to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." not, dad?" she asked. "You have carte blanche." many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns to where he stood hid behind the curtain. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses been." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his were unconscious?" October 9, 1890. "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and the one as in the other." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Well?" "Was there a secret marriage?" case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "I cannot think." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the colonel looking down at me. business in the City. She little knew what. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have "'Stolen!' he cried. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All beg that you will break it off." morning." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "I don't say that. Perhaps." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "You are certainly joking, Holmes." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and time." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" the side-table." editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He he died? impression behind it as though a window had gently closed upon the shelf for the interim." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my events than those which have happened in my own family." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "I promise," said Holmes. been able to understand it, in a very few words. "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose himself to tell his story. directly by questioning you." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Frequently."