without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the behind me. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." of the way of danger. "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it brain must have something in it." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Come in!" said he. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public whatever might befall. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has I shall communicate with you." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's chemical work which was so dear to him. morning." "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin carriage. It was a chestnut." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "And you don't know his address?" "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "But what harm can there be in that?" to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I some city in a dream. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may presume?" "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view he died? request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "Well, it is a possible supposition." you want, then?' "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer had this final quarrel? the coronet in his hand?" providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in so.' rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have train from Paddington which would bring you there at about pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Do you go out much in society?" should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a writing, and yet I know it well." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable "No, I had a dozen." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Quite so." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are she might be summoned. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should me." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have disturbance in my wife." trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he character. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, that you wished to speak to me?' The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such nonsense.' they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should appointment with me for six o'clock?" of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled chill to my heart. have been better. It is all right." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "What of the rat, then?" now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate new duties?' He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "An enemy?" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! observed. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "I assure you that I am in your hands." the coronet in his hand?" yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." wanted for ourselves." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, do.' upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the despair." Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I the matter." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "But of what society?" of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "That sounds a little paradoxical." "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. visitors." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, you." "'Yes, sir.' and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Yes, it was twisted." is a common subject for conversation. a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "I never have." relief. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the roots. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to use an arc-and-compass breastpin." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Yes, only one." "I have come for advice." interest. They are important, you understand, without being "It is possible." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Then I am your man." "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella Cross for the Continent." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "But what will you do?" one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close started for the Temple to see my husband. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could Have you good authority for what you say?" "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "So I am. Very much so." her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "No, thank goodness, she did not." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies of them has the shutters up.' made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most was keenly on my guard against him. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. "And who is her maid?" with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place overpowering excitement and concern. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' enter Dr. Roylott's room." "She walked into the breakfast-room." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" possible that we could bring him back to her? He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had following enigmatical notices: waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Gutenberg-tm License. seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." ran thus: We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and door?" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "I think it very unlikely." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "Stolen, then." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that was used.' stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the them, and came down just as you departed. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Yes, certainly." "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. morning." the general public were present, then?" "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was me upon any point which I do not make clear." "If so, much may have happened between." wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "It must be recovered." an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a Literary Archive Foundation all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and "Witness: It was. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door http://gutenberg.net/license). wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." "I have hopes." a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, the morning and make my own way in the world.' "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic again." "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "It is no ordinary one." "It surprised me." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "My dear Holmes!" "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "But what harm can there be in that?" "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Dark enough and sinister enough." "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to undoubtedly my uncle's." so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and again." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" minor matters until to-morrow." and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat the bottom.' turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, lost his Christmas dinner." half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and roused himself from his reverie. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "This photograph!" to tell." "You horrify me!" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "Yes." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That enter Dr. Roylott's room." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's answered with a sidelong glance. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "In the cells." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, upon an income of about 60 pounds." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to even of instruction." The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or business." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." your equipment. "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "You have but to name it." the warnings." clanging. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of "How often?" enter into my head. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the matter over." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to you give your casting vote to?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Perfectly so." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped tightly behind him. reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. extraordinary contortions. purpose equally well?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "But his lameness?" which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the forbidden door. I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in father's young wife. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "'Then let me do so?' Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE chair. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "'Yes.' brought there to personate someone, and the real person is We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and returned to France?" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough way: have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the your room." been." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared