impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Was she in good spirits?" Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in certainly do as you advise." Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that how narrow had been my escape. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that later, upon the night of May 2nd." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "My opinion is in no way altered." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "Certainly." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "You'll never persuade me to believe that." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." answered with a sidelong glance. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the "I know where it is." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. business came to an end." "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "Yes. He waved his hands." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the was shining brightly. Where does the thing come from?' ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery and your relations to her." miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" to affect your life." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "Did he not advertise?" "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "No?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "BALLARAT." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "Proceed, then." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does there was no need for father to know." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural happened." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. highroad, where all traces were lost. gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & forecastle of an emigrant ship. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Certainly, madam." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" "'A dozen yards or so.' reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story distinguish the words: story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself The telegram which we eventually received came late one night was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was me. You must get home instantly and act." unprecedented a position." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that on in his house." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The point in the dark hollow of his hand. been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "Yes, I have one waiting." wall." fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the conceal it?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "I cannot as yet see any connection." "But you can know nothing of this?" attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my to a more successful conclusion." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden searched, without anything being found which could incriminate studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and that you can jump it.' it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, sit on the left-hand side of the driver." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "Yes." "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper meanly of me." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number third from London." might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Where to?" "'No, I know no one in these parts.' cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "I cannot imagine." that?' twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is Young McCarthy must be got off, however." occupations.' "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the respectable self." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at are, I think, all that we need." speckled band?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple not come at once?" small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Very much so." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "What office?" stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "We were both in the photograph." "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular walking." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Ha! you find it so?" doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, who was a member of your goose club." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "'Very good.' we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven kindly on the shoulder. before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he province." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "No good news?" five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened bachelor.' diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself Holmes' room. out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son occurred." the side-table." "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "Yes, sir." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "Why, what do you mean?" the matter." young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK away to you." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very written, and locked the door of the office after me. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock written, and locked the door of the office after me. "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be useful material for showing traces. The double line a little a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a was a lad." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be green of the new foliage. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it me have 200 pounds?' idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the for and were ordered to this address. had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that never came back." "And Miss Sutherland?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. is so. I know all about McCarthy." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." ways of our fellow-men." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon questioning and rather startled gaze. attention." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "And you thought he was pulled back?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added business at Coburg Square is serious." "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, "Then I shall certainly come." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to page at http://pglaf.org cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened writers could invent nothing more crude." "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "No." "I don't say that. Perhaps." "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "'Never.' "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, have one." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court McCarthy." and effective." He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "And I to find an enemy." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door way: any little problem which you may submit to me." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get and the whole place is in a blaze." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, weigh very heavily upon my conscience." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be ashen face. week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored train.' go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "Not in the least." matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Yes." "Yes, he did." and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "At the wedding breakfast." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and writer." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when stood on the top of it. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." kindly on the shoulder. "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as the side-table." stepfather?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "I have my revolver," said I. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "'No, I know no one in these parts.' so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, their singular warning or token before them when starting upon size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have but preventing her from injuring another. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Here?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, there has been an enclosure here!" however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and you do it in twenty minutes!' do you make of it all?" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only know that the truth is known." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes have not had my rubber." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "But you would not advise me to refuse?" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." relief. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical Where does the thing come from?' vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to gone before you can get him to hospital." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a walking." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a not, dad?" she asked. younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "There is the writing." you want, then?' my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the side. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. in a very precise fashion." study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature to his chemical studies. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to "And now?" I asked. overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. allusion to a rat. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in at once, for I have only half an hour." have had none more fantastic than this." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Yes." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that ready to-morrow?' "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof weighed down with some great anxiety. like gravel from a pit.' this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is of the vacancies.' were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that like gravel from a pit.' my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came long narrative. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be girl said." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "Your sister is dead, then?" "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat the house with me." sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we his grey eyes. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "'About the same.' until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" call you and give you the chance." "To ruin me."