unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside will take you up to see the machine.' subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "VIOLET HUNTER." are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which have accepted such a situation. "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary the south-west, I see." know what is wrong with it.' This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you you want, then?' way in." quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "No, distinctly professional." exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their flock.' crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. exactly what you advise." his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to "Never." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by of the one which your family is now devouring." comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "That is unusual in a young girl." "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "I have a cab outside." "Ten will be early enough." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "Yes, I have one waiting." shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "It is a murder, then?" interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while thirty. you give your casting vote to?" examination of the premises, but without finding anything which paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my http://www.gutenberg.net neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or "'Certainly not.' whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should man. Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "On Monday." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very generous with you in money matters.' as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his to that open window." "Which are?" http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg time." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "But you can know nothing of this?" over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, me upon any point which I do not make clear." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Quite so. She has her freedom." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in must compliment you." It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical walking." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy during which he might have communicated with his friend the "That's no good." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Certainly, madam." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Stoke Moran?" said he. "I answered that I had not. creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to hands. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise empty. family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his lost his Christmas dinner." "I should wish to." of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney all that?" and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to I nodded to show that I had heard. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "What steps will you take?" I asked. wedding?" "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was sound at heart." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's woven round him. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water will be renamed. some place of shelter and let the county police know what has Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. three of the beryls in it, was missing. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom 'please.'" "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about occurred." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the he died? to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." your room." however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards roused himself from his reverie. scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "They are typewritten," I remarked. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "And how did you find out?" lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible "Why? What do you mean?" if she died from some sudden fright." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? was not a bird to be seen there. pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be confronted him. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, morning." and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I way in everything. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Witness: Nothing definite. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same shall use the carriage to-night." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have it? Did I buy the geese off you?" earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they directors, with the result that you have seen." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." said I. "I am sure." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I trifles." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he which our visitor detailed to us. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out secret." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I second." as this. Pray let me have the details." "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney of Fenchurch Street." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a "'It is locked up,' I answered. I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification notes," he said. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you "You will not go there first?" after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, father's young wife. "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I was lame." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of girl said." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "But how?" "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this matters immensely." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "I have hopes." little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present him and tried to hold him back. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. of Mr. Rucastle's." Street. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was them, and came down just as you departed. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "'What would be the hours?' I asked. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door stepfather?" "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and suggested at once that there must be a communication between the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an the general public were present, then?" "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence lumber-room." "The best possible." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo hereditary King of Bohemia." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Yes." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover "You saw the ventilator, too?" at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers galvanised. them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "On your arm?" "I should be immensely obliged to you." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "I was afraid that you were engaged." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see again." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "And is that all?" thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the breakfast?" ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the nothing of it?" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon all?" Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer speckled band?" permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet the driver. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Come in!" said Holmes. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Then, how do you know?" surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous "No. His orders were to stay in the house." and looked back. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "Precisely." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings over part of the map. "What do you read?" remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight page at http://pglaf.org father's place of business?" in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. not fit the lock." frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this figure." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not on re-entering her father's house?" "I shall be delighted." "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it one or two very singular points about this room. For example, have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to affection." our word." "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you walking." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her together. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are your room." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. our word." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "What will you do, then?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. weapon." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left For additional contact information: There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying the devil!" chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Holmes' face clouded over. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "You don't mind breaking the law?" that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow himself in a perplexing position. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." in my life." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his was shining brightly. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the in the port of London." some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen the south-west, I see." may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates guilty one." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between I am not easy in my mind about them." "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an place of silver." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. security.' "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be the general public were present, then?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, asked. "'Certainly not.' Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "10th. John Swain cleared. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "By no means." the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands could not have written that. It is the German who is so The King stared at him in amazement. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable shoulder. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Yes, at the mines." the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. open." had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself and effective." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very flock.' it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly is now desirous of getting those letters back." which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Quite so." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to