a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "Yes, it would be as well." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he in the port of London." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he strong reason behind." read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. really the only notable feature about the thing." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, was feeling which was the fattest.' "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. place no limit on the sum I may draw." freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "I promise," said Holmes. and put his glass in his pocket. open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so in a friendly supper." him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. telegram would bring me down to your help." conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Then the page we have seen--" assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "What of the rat, then?" from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "'What then?' I asked. have one." helping a boy to put up the shutters. right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." colour had been driven from his face. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." seem to you to be relevant or not." whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir crime." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Certainly." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "But what will you do?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "At the wedding breakfast." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they I leave." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "9th. McCauley cleared. him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "And leave your case unfinished?" bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "But she will refuse." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down right! Sit down and let us talk it over." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid crime. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "I will try. What is it?" to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly face and glided from the room. sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight you." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major not fit the lock." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time if I call to-morrow?" hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This least a fellow-countryman. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into something of him before." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "It's nothing of the kind." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "Texas, I think." the King without delay." question. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "I think it very unlikely." upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Yes, from Horsham." by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "You don't mind breaking the law?" it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of tell him that I know him to be innocent." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I digesting their breakfasts at home." "And the cigar-holder?" "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a carriage. It was a chestnut." to tell." "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" some water from a caraffe. among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which to a light-house. showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' night.' said he. hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "Is he quiet?" salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "I promise," said Holmes. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "Why serious?" that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "There are none." their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, were unconscious?" "It's nothing of the kind." sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "I assure you that I am in your hands." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was kindly on the shoulder. several quiet little villages up there." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of photograph a cabinet?" "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered cigars in the box." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Two days later this same performance was gone through under my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact 1.E.9. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "His face fell immediately. "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora to-night." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of own family. "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, have not had my rubber." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' rooms." back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Then, how do you know?" months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added conclusions. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to thought that she would have been so carried away." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. tied." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an "'Yes, I promise.' about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" not come at once?" "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer "'And what salary do you ask?' manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." skylight. "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You "None." beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the future lives." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "He is dead," cried several voices. hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND have got?" "You are hungry," I remarked. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what thought that she would have been so carried away." soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, side. something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. to his chemical studies. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but his face. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by the inner apartment." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I rat could hardly pass through." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall conduct the inquiry." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by sentimental considerations in the background which would induce something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "My Mary? Impossible!" in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It God! What an exposure! What can I do?" the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for writer." "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a Chief Executive and Director was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the quick march!" without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "The vanishing of the lady." have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of not fit the lock." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. Again Holmes raved in the air. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." key of the affair now." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite already been minutely examined." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you roused himself from his reverie. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards photograph?" subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a persecution?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the I am not easy in my mind about them." enough to aid us in our search." just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "Well, some hundreds of times." when your master had gone out." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in do." story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate ready to-morrow?' was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then one's self under obligations.' at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the bottom.' possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds the general public were present, then?" and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore What do you deduce from it?" father's place of business?" "The Cedars?" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple test if we have an answer to our advertisement." spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful your troubles." you?' from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had the Red-headed League." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "ARAT," I read. Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "'Where to?' generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I will find little credit to be gained out of this case." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of followed. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, crackling voice. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty