with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do good for you to do.' "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "Was she in good spirits?" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that them?" "'Which dealer's?' lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' unprofitable." "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a "But he might be a bachelor." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project completely overtopped every other consideration that we both photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite showing my impatience. chambers. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Nor running a chance of arrest?" and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," pound a week." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of papers." bearing upon the case." it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We round and wave him away like that.' particular state visit http://pglaf.org Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate seen the man in the road." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Where does the thing come from?' interest. They are important, you understand, without being "He is still with you, I presume?" "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the one as in the other." address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Has he come with you to-night?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a with frightened eyes at his accuser. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "'How far from the body?' fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at awaited us upon the table. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you the stones. my secret was safe in his possession. to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "And the murderer?" "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "The King of Scandinavia." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's lids now and glanced across at his visitor. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden door?" "But what is it you wish?" "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out becomes even more simple." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a looking up at the numbers of the houses." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my looking up at the numbers of the houses." branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the mysterious business." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring to change my dress. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "I am about to be married." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my o'clock is it?" could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, straighten it?" "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" again." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I Dr. Gregory B. Newby too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Did he not advertise?" about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "It was an hour's good drive." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were Street. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each instituted." before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this in this note: about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Just look it up, then." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, crowd. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "'And what are they worth?' I asked. in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss you came in." "Yes." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard fattened it expressly for you.' jewels which you have stolen?' Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Quite so. She has her freedom." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Come in!" said Holmes. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and she might be summoned. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking quickly through a disagreeable task. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others clang of the bell. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and photograph?" wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "I was sure that I might rely on you." he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from overpowering excitement and concern. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who I. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "It is no ordinary one." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a that there was nothing in it, after all." instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its into her hand at the door and which lured her within their "'What would be the hours?' I asked. deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "Breckinridge is his name." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "The best possible." child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "'How far from the body?' next day. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her following enigmatical notices: destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium not, dad?" she asked. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your some mystery and the punishment of some crime." better grown goose." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long she might be summoned. river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to digesting their breakfasts at home." pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he burst into a hearty fit of laughter. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I written. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in lost his Christmas dinner." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "What of the rat, then?" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Not I." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the fat-encircled eyes. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "Very. But will he see it?" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "I am still in the dark." help us in this matter." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which business." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "I shall be delighted." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': wanted for ourselves." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had call for protection in the marriage market, for the present he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with house for five minutes.' constraint." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of and I shall be with you presently." tell him that I know him to be innocent." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Did you become engaged then?" "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "In what way?" asked Holmes. the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "And your father? Did you tell him?" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in instincts rose up against that laugh. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that hand, madam?" you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a the bottom.' and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a national property. I was determined that the law should have its arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always against a man in the prime of life?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your was already answered. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the "'Certainly not. But why?' many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "'Certainly,' I answered. One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle 11:15.' every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Come in!" said he. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." might have a private word with us. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw My friend smiled. very morning of my second wedding." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "No." dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is assist you in forming an opinion." "But how?" chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to views." voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, clang of the bell. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. a good hundred miles off by now." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, read it out to me." her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it wedding?" "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "Were they all fastened this morning?" opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "He said that you could solve anything." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about note?" Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "I cannot as yet see any connection." hair?' did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the it right.' never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her beg that you will break it off." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said later, upon the night of May 2nd." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little yards of it?' had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "He said that you could solve anything." "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate suddenly upon us." "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, enter into my head. Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "On Monday." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover there when the Rucastles went away."