"Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Clair, of Lee." note?" that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in the bed, and you in that chair." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the night.' said he. "But not more so than I to find you." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the second window is the one that I jumped from." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with fait accompli?" wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," to take care of herself." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "I have a cab outside." before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our bill, which interests me deeply." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who away in different directions, and I went off to make my own resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped if only as a check to my own memory." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him noting anything else of interest. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he disappearance of these gems?" King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who bed dies. Does not that strike you?" who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been For additional contact information: "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "It surprised me." front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was strong reason behind." permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with John Swain, of St. Augustine. crime." Does that suggest anything?" impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the upon the sideboard." upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the the salesman. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his case before our client came into the room." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: disturbance in my wife." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very the so-precious time, but come!' me." the nursery. through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Heh?' the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most things are very often connected not with the larger but with the once more on the important position which you have been fortunate repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated dates and names. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I "On Monday." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to he died? of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, chill to my heart. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "'You cannot say what it was?' name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Where did you address your letters, then?" until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his question you as to those details which seem to me to be most inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Not particularly." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is prepare for the new role I have to play." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham dear old homesteads?" have I gained?" upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "I think it very unlikely." "I was afraid that you were engaged." round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." death." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the on in his house." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, danger is over." not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the sake, don't!" which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur row." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. charge against him will break down." "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an "Just look it up, then." goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been speckled band?" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "Well, but China?" tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A nice household for a young lady." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "Not in a good cause." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the felt?" Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two been deceived." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of someone who had been in Australia." a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Entirely." gbnewby@pglaf.org me what he had done with the three missing stones. state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the until night should bring an explanation. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we weapon." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The hair?' Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes enough to aid us in our search." "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made where she found matters as described by the last witness. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges me. You must get home instantly and act." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not most interesting one." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of nothing of it?" "I beg pardon." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "It was a confession," I ejaculated. present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Nor running a chance of arrest?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "No sign of it?" "'Very good.' unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He what do you think they found in the pockets?" Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "I promise," said Holmes. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late anything to a woman, for she would have her way." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Certainly, madam." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "It is no ordinary one." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "But to whom?" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "Do you go out much in society?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly interest. They are important, you understand, without being the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips October 9, 1890. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Indeed! Whose, then?" permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Ah, but I was recommended to you." light and attacked it." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Mary, has deserted me." "The rest you will leave in our hands." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an him to be an active member of the medical profession." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was public press." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only himself to tell his story. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than read it out to me." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "I cannot imagine." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "My private note-paper." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "It is no ordinary one." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he him." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. of it with the greatest attention. companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." Eyford." "But he might be a bachelor." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a My friend smiled. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears such attractions and accomplishments?' equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's outbreak?" man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and said he. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "But she could not love him." works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless held up the lantern and gazed about him. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then "'Where could I find him?' half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge the loss of it. and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become "I would pay ten." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now writing, and yet I know it well." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his that I am arrested." "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Will you go?" "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be go from here to the Strand." years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan closely." to a light-house. written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Street. standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." breakfast?" first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that is four-and-twenty." always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small means taking possession of that which another person has a prior 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to pity, because in other respects you would really have done very every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and I approached. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Why serious?" "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice in a very precise fashion." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work must compliment you." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her you?' electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without Count Von Kramm." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices heavy and sharp instrument." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest appeared upon the scene." refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to were unconscious?" "And your father? Did you tell him?" Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A detective. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of bears upon the case?" in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "But the mystery?" "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the