and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "It must be recovered." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his mystery may be cleared along those lines." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "Yes, sir." "A greater distance to travel." "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Why did you pick him?" was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, tell them apart.' sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "What do you make of that, Watson?" giving me time to thank him. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly it. feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and ready to-morrow?' "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "The vanishing of the lady." "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Of what?" VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Which are?" to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned fire. You quite follow me?" one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Her father is very rich?" "Won't it ring?" examine." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Gutenberg-tm License. "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The night.' said he. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is how narrow had been my escape. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "9th. McCauley cleared. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "That is it on the dressing-table." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. way: Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "How did he come?" soul! here is her carriage at the door." Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' will take you up to see the machine.' Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. light and attacked it." The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Who by?" knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "You forget that I know nothing about it." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the point in the dark hollow of his hand. "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the are windows in it, of course?" shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the it. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "He slept on the premises." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The business in the City. She little knew what. He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in his cane at the bell-pull. undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view into the room. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. Foundation examination of the premises, but without finding anything which in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Mrs. Toller serenely. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little dramatic, in fact." "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average electronic works confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less outside." "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to at a side door. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little details." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' that the gas is not laid on in his house?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my this Miss Turner." of Fenchurch Street." into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every where we are going." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "And how did you find out?" running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to upon the white wrist. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one to a light-house. "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." drawing your inferences." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil lips." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "And it is--" thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. "You have a clue?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, Doctor, of the paper and the date." DISSOLVED. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, criminal. We have already had experience of such." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I think that he is innocent?" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "'I am sure that I do not know.' Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a that and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. best detective that ever lived. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "'It is locked up,' I answered. union?" "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Clair, of Lee." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' such person." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Precisely so. But how--" moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his conclusions. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from tail." "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would *** START: FULL LICENSE *** did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project neither fascinating nor artistic." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and chemical work which was so dear to him. "No." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' newspaper selections." "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "One of his hands." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the ceiling. her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew know that the truth is known." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some you understand?" cheerful." voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "And is that all?" I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the open." "It is to him that this trophy belongs." may never be exposed to such a temptation." disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred woman who has had her own way to make in the world. manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is detective. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying just ask you whether you had heard it.' probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time the driver. heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know hurried away. I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not fatally injured? suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet detained." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will help us in this matter." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting ran thus: "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Then he might have called to you?" police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "May I see it?" Sholtos." "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he now. It seems that there had been some informality about their civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. nonsense.' the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, too. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek laugh and put his lips to my ear. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck key of the affair now." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug "Yes, sir." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his works. See paragraph 1.E below. suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "Yes, but only for you and me." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, and your relations to her." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and "I warn you that they are very incomplete." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock intimate personal affairs in this public manner." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. His smile broadened. to some other building. Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "'Where to?' my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing to a more successful conclusion." in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "What! You do not mean bodies?" absolutely follow my advice in every respect." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "And you thought he was pulled back?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "'Ample.' and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I everything which you would wish to know." the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have where Mr. Fordham shows you.' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. of Mr. Rucastle's." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and remarked. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two October 9, 1890. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "Stolen, then." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand possible that we could bring him back to her? frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "And you thought he was pulled back?" nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "And Miss Sutherland?" "I say it is." daring than any effort of the imagination." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "She will not sell." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for foresight and the moral retrogression?" itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that III. less than 26s. 4d. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." which we had just quitted. At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for hands. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Has he come with you to-night?" sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who But Holmes shook his head gravely. "What will you say?" surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel Doctor, of the paper and the date." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast sneer upon his pale face. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "'Which dealer's?' remarked. "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the people don't know." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "A thing like a cleaver," said he. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's your troubles." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that a good hundred miles off by now." affair. "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy me." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few learned something! Where are the gems?" smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the