the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Stoke Moran?" said he. "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an she used." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was "I promise," said Holmes. have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet the tragedy. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "Ha! you find it so?" "You are hungry," I remarked. should be taken.' accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "On the contrary, this is the right side." Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "It's nothing of the kind." hardly wander." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring make me his representative both with the servants and with the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off depend upon your compliance." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." rooms." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a derbies." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately everything which you would wish to know." governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Absolutely?" "Do you go out much in society?" professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him "My Mary? Impossible!" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as least a most suspicious remark." forebodings. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "My own seal." rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had becomes even more simple." "What of the rat, then?" she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She room?" Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a strong reason behind." that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he for the market.' room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." someone who had been in Australia." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "Nearly eleven." power." the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, to change my dress. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen business came to an end." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in to change my dress. I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. delighted to hear it," he said. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. started for the Temple to see my husband. to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been away into the river." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and jewels which you have stolen?' "I am to be neutral?" with some details as to your case." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took 1.E.9. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I at once, for I have only half an hour." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did What do you deduce from it?" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "And Miss Sutherland?" the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. this as likely?" of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of he died? 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be enter Dr. Roylott's room." The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, man. "'Yes.' son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward a very grave face. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be have got?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to the driver. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the inner apartment." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved we went to search for him, face downward in a little "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' garden below. me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "On Monday." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the envelope. observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. "Your French gold?" dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should man. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position you for a few hours?" succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers even so self-evident a thing as that." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Deserted you?" him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and get the tickets." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single young Openshaw's." photograph?" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the been deceived." interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "Breckinridge is his name." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in she has been waylaid. There has been no result." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us place, I think that there is good ground to think that the stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "And for present expenses?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that fact, we may call it conclusive." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I breakfast." "Has he come with you to-night?" premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in works. See paragraph 1.E below. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Where to?" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "'What, the red-headed man?' business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "His face fell immediately. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and waste of energy." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good have got?" Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." tell them apart.' spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. own family. lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few such person." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "'Ample.' were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is present." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight the Assizes." shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "Never to return." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Yes, sir." father's young wife. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small gone. "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am dates and names. among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. yet." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "None." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "To an end?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away hurried away. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I call you and give you the chance." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom "How about poison?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry matter over." Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. works. See paragraph 1.E below. coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "The murder was done with it." returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of retorted upon me, and I on you." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Holmes. village inn over there?" The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed it? Did I buy the geese off you?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "And the cigar-holder?" the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "How on earth--" brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land system of imprisonment?" ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never me." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." business." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. depend upon my doing so.' afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Perfectly so." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "I say that I have solved it." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "He might." said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress ready to-morrow?' Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he never came back." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "You are all wrong." to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, newspaper selections." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael have established a very serious case against the son of the back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise thin legs towards the fire. relation between them, and what the object of his repeated that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my spare." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "And Irene Adler?" in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" "Yes, sir." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "I was afraid that you were engaged." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain I shall communicate with you." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "I was sure that I might rely on you." must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from clang of the bell.