at my own good fortune. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I ourselves in the office." "Yes." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, weigh very heavily upon my conscience." down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What to-night." "Her father is very rich?" "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, your sleep?' sufficient punishment." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers might help us?" "I will get her to show me." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "I was sure that I might rely on you." are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and drawing your inferences." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this burst into a hearty fit of laughter. man. I know him from the photograph." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature suspect him." recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience over his head with a sweet womanly caress. any more." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has wife's character?" invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is I am not easy in my mind about them." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "Yes, it would be as well." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" the window, rose as we entered. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet very morning of my second wedding." "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "'Ten to two.' sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. business matters.' to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very developed." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be unclasping of his long thin hands. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand to-night." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point how narrow had been my escape. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity was already answered. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "I have solved it." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Perfectly so." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice the Assizes." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "Yes, it would be as well." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I question," said Holmes, smiling. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Holmes. Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, new acquaintance to Baker Street. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our strong reason behind." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she late." know that the truth is known." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the questioning and rather startled gaze. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my said he at last. "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Then I am your man." much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love is four-and-twenty." "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting beyond words. have had none more fantastic than this." were new raised from a basin. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "What is it, then--a fire?" "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "She will not sell." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired made his money." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. cigars in the box." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part said he. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "Nothing." wall." Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one woven round him. thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us gone. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom be sorry for having acted so harshly." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at four million human beings all jostling each other within the "And for present expenses?" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "At the wedding breakfast." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the weary and pale-looking. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. weary and pale-looking. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of she to prove their authenticity?" surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler one else, I think." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "'You doubt its value?' he asked. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was God! What an exposure! What can I do?" sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "I will get her to show me." read over the extraordinary announcement. the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "To the police?" "Well, some hundreds of times." from the brougham. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "It certainly sounds feasible." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking at my remark. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus never will be, entirely cleared up. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Then the page we have seen--" was a loud and authoritative tap. steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid I have it here in my museum." the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "'I am sure if I had known--' grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "Nothing." "I do." his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his point our research must commence, and we will begin it by the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head leaning back in his chair. "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he lost his Christmas dinner." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made gbnewby@pglaf.org that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "A greater distance to travel." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Indeed! Whose, then?" or in danger--" unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "Come in!" said Holmes. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "What are they?" "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in man. I know him from the photograph." "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own room?" envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." awaited us upon the table. might help us?" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Absolutely none." pierced for earrings?" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred views." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at and prosperity to your house. Good-night." the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Nothing?" a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" generous with you in money matters.' reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, You can understand that this register and diary may implicate desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, returned to France?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might hand, madam?" examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "'Is purely nominal.' opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "What then?" leaning back in his chair. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "My private note-paper." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced within hail.' Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "One?" 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he have got?" "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" and have this put in the evening papers." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. started for the Temple to see my husband. said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? manager. back to my heart. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are himself in a perplexing position. he died? feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort within hail.' smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than look upon these things in a different way." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much about here speaks of his kindness to him." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of III. "Then you may entirely rely on me." and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Dirty?" lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was which was all perfectly true. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. least a most suspicious remark." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand "And who is her maid?" it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "What shall I do?" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was than was visible to me." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "Then how many are there?" "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still "No." think that any burglar could have done. sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a sit on the left-hand side of the driver." has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the telegram would bring me down to your help." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of your most interesting statement." "'I have already given you my word.' by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "The landlord of the Alpha." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on morning." main points of my analysis." them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." some terrible trap for her." this remarkable episode. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, washing it down with a long draught of water. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of woman who has had her own way to make in the world. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in it with his own hands." I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was my friend's incisive reasoning. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the "But his lameness?" "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." but preventing her from injuring another. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by she used." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then strength." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "You have compromised yourself seriously." only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, You want to know what became of those geese?"