here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." retorted upon me, and I on you." "One horse?" interjected Holmes. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "And your mother is alive?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate she has been waylaid. There has been no result." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the system of imprisonment?" any more." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before man. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "Did you observe the colour?" thin legs towards the fire. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon directors, with the result that you have seen." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Yes." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." looking up at the numbers of the houses." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little what do you think they found in the pockets?" "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at Does that suggest anything?" education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "'What then?' I asked. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and just ask you whether you had heard it.' despair." him and tried to hold him back. despair." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "And your mother is alive?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "Pray let us have it, for all that." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see reach." "Won't it ring?" he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I night.' said he. expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Not particularly." could gather together that I was able to avert another public perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite you do it in twenty minutes!' "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason face and glided from the room. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! at my own good fortune. reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. brandy and water within his reach. "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can client, rising. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was prove to be little relation between the different incidents of fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire Pope's Court, Fleet Street." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but directors have had misgivings upon the subject." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of already been minutely examined." sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country who was a member of your goose club." us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" pound a week." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little could go. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered through." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried to arrive at through this?" the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond look dissatisfied." eavesdroppers?' "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking opened a pocket-book and took out a note. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, morning." "And why in hopes?" "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. you?" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may vague figure huddled up in the darkness. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a other means.' laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "But you have hopes?" there!' provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other do." Sutherland?" possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, coat-tails." British peeress.'" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been better grown goose." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from is entirely a question of barometric pressure." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away delighted to hear it," he said. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a heavy and sharp instrument." address. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the During two years I have had three consultations and one small friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that noble correspondent could be. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly asked. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "And how?" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my prove to be little relation between the different incidents of was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, "And how did you verify them?" during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was forehead. She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as swore that no one else had been in the front room during the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the nonsense.' these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than long narrative. grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated of the vacancies.' weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the companion. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The this as likely?" it means?" Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out thin, with a long, sharp nose?" opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll meant it for the best. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from were unconscious?" "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had through." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it made him keep the appointment." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "I am in hopes that she does." "Then what has happened to him?" drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the You want to know what became of those geese?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "'What, the red-headed man?' and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to that threaten you." which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a that, and I came down." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be approach us with offers to donate. and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for away to you." opportunities to fix the problem. through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he companion quietly. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room events, Mr. Windibank!" in your London, you will know that the office of the company is I held the little printed slip to the light. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a ago." DAMAGE. her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, you in your example." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his call the police, let the police find what they can.' the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "By no means." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" III. you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. you." my friend's incisive reasoning. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, again." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Dark enough and sinister enough." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "Entirely." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Was your sister dressed?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "It is a murder, then?" in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked business." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping as the one I chose?' "And you thought he was pulled back?" find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss during which he might have communicated with his friend the that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Where, then?" we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your sooner or later she must fall a victim. interest. They are important, you understand, without being "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him had no one to advise her at such a crisis." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of evidence," I remarked. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and was shining brightly. Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "What are they?" him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "You are all wrong." who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for mysterious end." wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' is so. I know all about McCarthy." used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so lids now and glanced across at his visitor. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Absolutely?" should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just my little problems." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "A client, then?" explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the troubles have been weighing upon his mind. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped me. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went question," said Holmes, smiling. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Then, how do you know?" "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "Precisely." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, your billet.' enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "ARAT," I read. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be noble correspondent could be. I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas over with notes and figures. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Then you may be so with me." "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent This is what he says: there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "You were travelling in the States?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and of this gang." brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of the matter." at a side door. "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has all?" took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Stoke Moran." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend gigantic client. seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "'You cannot say what it was?' the nursery. in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "'Is purely nominal.' laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "Yes, he did." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. again on its way. upon the sideboard." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" child?' daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, fatally injured? little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." province." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior wall." other, as fresh and trim as possible. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if your equipment. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "It is very clear." behind me. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying closely." been deceived." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "Why did you pick him?" course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "And I to find an enemy." drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when III. silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the