opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." remarked. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her during the last few years, and there are many noble families to as the one I chose?' saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in should be taken.' play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "Stolen." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it in his hands." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "What then?" am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms wedding?" "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "And why?" "And sit in the dark?" "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "I would pay ten." would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "Married! When?" "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small fluttered off among the others. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this letters?" "Which surely he restored to their owner?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon it means?" "Just look it up, then." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, page at http://pglaf.org looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "It is a murder, then?" have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she Lestrade of Scotland Yard." his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the upon the sideboard." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their be there in time for your coming." long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "Perhaps we may make them less so." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord delighted to hear it," he said. all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a in the hope of finding them." "Yes, certainly." "A confidential servant?" then?" struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." begun to whiten, even as mine has." crime. "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence brain must have something in it." dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both into the bag, and made for the door. breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw round and wave him away like that.' "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Proceed, then." "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave south, for the country is more deserted there." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect was shining brightly. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of appeared upon the scene." ways including including checks, online payments and credit card woman who has had her own way to make in the world. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "A thing like a cleaver," said he. lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" without success. At last the little money which I had saved began her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "We must have a cab." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "We have tried and failed." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. six. Come in!" off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This never to learn it at all." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from pierced for earrings?" lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if the so-precious time, but come!' himself to tell his story. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, woven round him. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Pope's Court, Fleet Street." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All have been better. It is all right." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "What will you do, then?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it the matter." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Dr. Becher's." License. You must require such a user to return or questioning and rather startled gaze. stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter in this note: Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Quite so. She has her freedom." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one depend upon your compliance." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would whether it answered to the description of any of their "No." definite end. with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are pictures, libraries, or plate. all?" her also." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." children over to America with him, so that I found myself without suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back his cane at the bell-pull. back to my heart. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing questioning and rather startled gaze. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the he bowed and left the room without another word. suddenly upon us." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Which are?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with to affect your life." In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily leave you to your papers for a little." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do the ceiling. cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Never." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "No sign of it?" "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for could not account in any way for the presence of the missing from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to nights." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "Then I can wait in the next room." never came back." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so he. police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the astonishment. "Thank you. And your address?" could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room read it out to me." "'Where to?' "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon get her out of the way." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be introspective fashion. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away depend upon my doing so.' "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "Why did you pick him?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need in my life." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that which it had come upon my father." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "In answer to an advertisement." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "What will you say?" the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and and that he would see to anything that turned up. leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic the general public were present, then?" at a side door. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much a few minutes he said that it would be all right. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address door?" voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "'And the work?' "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I "'I am sure if I had known--' the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Yes, only one." home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other works. See paragraph 1.E below. stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over key of the affair now." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it next day. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and "I was certainly surprised to find you there." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which to some other building. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical rooms." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur His name is Francis Prosper." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear begin with, and I had not got mine yet." it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and stalked out of the room. London for the present?" company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, her also." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the you?' "And why in hopes?" believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I good for you to do.' like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the not, dad?" she asked. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every pictures, libraries, or plate. see a sister of mine apply for." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the child." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was lamp in his hand. "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest entirely devoid of interest." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "What office?" that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove meant it for the best. scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had to where he stood hid behind the curtain. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "Was there a secret marriage?" were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you legal crime." the morning and make my own way in the world.' side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I my former friend and companion. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their hard-headed British jury." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it night.' said he. adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him with you alone." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any should be so warm over such a trifle." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser orange pips. rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "I promise," said Holmes. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill upon a handsome competence. time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the dear old homesteads?" "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am you came in." "An enemy?" refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. you understand?" constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with strength of mind to control. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "And Irene Adler?" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "'Which dealer's?' "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, some terrible trap for her." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all