opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "Perhaps we may make them less so." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips seven miles from Eyford Station.' distance from the station, and there we found the young lady me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "Nothing?" prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "You have but to name it." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No tightly behind him. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "Ah!" which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I the bottom.' "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a disappearance of the bride.'" fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "What I expected to see." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One plantation.' pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, them?" We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my are windows in it, of course?" understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly possible that we could bring him back to her? He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small roused himself from his reverie. gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was colour had been driven from his face. "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "I should like to see him very much." the devil!" "And that is--" morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I highly," said Holmes. upon an income of about 60 pounds." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." must be when I saw the door open.' "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" tightly behind him. if she died from some sudden fright." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "But how?" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, you came in." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Was the window open?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but deduce something from that?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had furiously. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, cheerful." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the place, I think that there is good ground to think that the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "And that is--" Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Never." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they long narrative. tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman delirious. "Pray let us have it, for all that." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "Your sister is dead, then?" he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came or in danger--" "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "I would pay ten." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing points to suicide?" was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." voice, changing her seat as requested. "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "What have you done?" asked Holmes. desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked you give your casting vote to?" of it with the greatest attention. iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. in darkness. together. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, into the bag, and made for the door. James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a this remarkable episode. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their shaken than I had ever seen him. "And how did you find out?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a "Very. But will he see it?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "Get out!" said he. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. late!' "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is II. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Never to return." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has Doctor, of the paper and the date." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing disappearance of the bride.'" Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple extraordinary contortions. a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter detained." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Come in!" said he. "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "In answer to an advertisement." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she whether it answered to the description of any of their key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The a little more before I quite committed myself. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to "How long did she speak to this Alice?" rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose Dr. Gregory B. Newby met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and "Then you may be so with me." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "And I to find an enemy." "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I and files of the old papers, following the future career of every remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the wedding?" that he has suffered." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are existence." and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I not interfere, come what may. You understand?" the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "What shall I do?" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Come in!" said Holmes. anything to do with the matter?" worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "What! You do not mean bodies?" works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she a very grave face. gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is married her." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for *** START: FULL LICENSE *** correct than the official force." came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these events than those which have happened in my own family." grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, residence of the great financier. will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of would then never go into court at all." investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been chill to my heart. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, leaning back in his chair. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. been able to understand it, in a very few words. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "Pray do so." better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, bore every mark of being an average commonplace British know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with overpowering excitement and concern. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight carriage. It was a chestnut." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "ARAT," I read. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was writing, and yet I know it well." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." closely." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "I should like to see him very much." listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of thin, with a long, sharp nose?" the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I which I could not give. He asked for Alice. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of was a perfect sample of the class. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "I am armed." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." questionable one." play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive child?' upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in at my remark. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "I don't say that. Perhaps." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical This is what he says: madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the where she found matters as described by the last witness. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's before, for it was considerably after midnight. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and populous neighbourhood." that I can to serve you." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon pound a week." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and 11:15.' fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. posted to-day." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "No, I think that I'll take it." "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a it." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "And I to find an enemy." "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, business." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "I am still in the dark." in this way: possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Holmes, the busybody!" anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the "'Ample.' and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "The Cedars?" "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite his cane at the bell-pull. outside. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the present strange and interesting features that it is no easy orange pips. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "But how?" "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the think that he is innocent?" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?'