"'I have heard so.' This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No Serpentine Avenue. "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" disturbance in my wife." of them has the shutters up.' "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "And on what day did he meet his death?" over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a returning from some small jollification and was making his way and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "She will not sell." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other question. years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I whereabouts. how narrow had been my escape. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little to his chemical studies. "To an English lawyer named Norton." description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the tension within him. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Yes, only one." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I said he at last. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several will find little credit to be gained out of this case." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your writer." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "She showed me, as I told you she would." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my outbreak?" There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of the inner apartment." strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "But she will refuse." with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary his huge brown hands. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings I held the little printed slip to the light. experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that directors, with the result that you have seen." better in every way that they should make their position a little The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of "Yes, sir." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "And Irene Adler?" of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "My dear Holmes!" be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face posted to-day." tapping his fingers upon the table. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she into the room. like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "What have you to say now?" the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the notes," he said. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of from you?" "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the examine." me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, only touch the interest." "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that back into the street. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation weapon." "'And the work?' for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. strength." "But the mystery?" happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you forehead. certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. villagers almost as much as their master. "Will you bet, then?" "Is he quiet?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout more solid." understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All you." habit of advancing money.' the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Quite so. She has her freedom." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. said he. "I would pay ten." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have that he will be back before evening." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you there were so many in the whole country as were brought together She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. get the tickets." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really McCarthy's innocence. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and me where it went to?" ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. pierced for earrings?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. once more. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "So I heard. You have him here?" your co-operation." questioning and rather startled gaze. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry locked. of it with the greatest attention. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." is four-and-twenty." as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have that he has suffered." "To ruin me." sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come away to you." shoulder; "he's all right." spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and confronted him. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into in him." generous with you in money matters.' space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so fatally injured? long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "I say it is." he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily girl said." as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. she might be summoned. "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." that?' thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same away into the river." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet retorted upon me, and I on you." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them License. You must require such a user to return or politicians who had been sent down from the North. fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas characteristics, but those are the more obvious." your room." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project confronted him. "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Holmes, the busybody!" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "Yes." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." dates and names. heavy and sharp instrument." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Your presence might be invaluable." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the better grown goose." you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H of them has the shutters up.' "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" neither fascinating nor artistic." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained remarked. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had and I shall be with you presently." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we outside." my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, peculiar to him. But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "How do you know, then?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before not as remarkable as your advertisement." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a occurred." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a where Mr. Fordham shows you.' his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you woman who has had her own way to make in the world. the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you into her hand at the door and which lured her within their I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and the Red-headed League." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, man. the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens stood on the top of it. my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to "Yes." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here McCarthy's innocence. without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" which it had come upon my father." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your she used." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "Where, then, is my wife?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that room. "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation digesting their breakfasts at home." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "What then?" done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or DISSOLVED. the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in carriage. It was a chestnut." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "My last client of the sort was a king." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both Gutenberg-tm License. voice. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his any more." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "I assure you that I am in your hands." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "It's nothing of the kind." retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" a suggestive one." the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty "In the cells." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known plantation.' phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" matter over." "This concluded the examination of the witness." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "To an English lawyer named Norton." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Come in!" said Holmes. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "What?" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "In San Francisco, a year ago." stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge golden eyeglasses. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." congenial hunt. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Well, some hundreds of times." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet figure." want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment several quiet little villages up there." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new matters immensely." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single business?" someone who had been in Australia." There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our "'Oh, no.' confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales success. "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "Pray do so." came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the do." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. client, rising. overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side any more." and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative fatally injured? happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying highroad, where all traces were lost. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of him and tried to hold him back. the salesman. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "Come in!" said Holmes. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "No." look dissatisfied." seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "I have solved it." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "My own seal." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as child?' outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one