"No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included information in his hands the value of which he did not himself all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "Yes." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you spare." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "I don't believe it." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was forecastle of an emigrant ship. been." and looked back. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found case-book, which he consulted. "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed be there in time for your coming." zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across case-book, which he consulted. Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key there has been an enclosure here!" never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "One horse?" interjected Holmes. along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took and your relations to her." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible daring than any effort of the imagination." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the highly," said Holmes. "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "Game for a morning drive?" nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which past. "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still you." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend you." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. of receipt of the work. any little problem which you may submit to me." hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "'I am sure if I had known--' crackling voice. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Well." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" and your relations to her." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had my secret was safe in his possession. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "The Cedars?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a to arrive at through this?" of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the "Very murderous indeed." is now desirous of getting those letters back." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on question. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "How did you deduce the select?" downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The over his head with a sweet womanly caress. she slowly sank and died without having recovered her "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the ran thus: "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Yes." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same it were putty." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "What have you to say now?" "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "Then I can wait in the next room." passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from questionable one." that threaten you." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "Very murderous indeed." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how papers." old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now the iron safe, which he closed upon it. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him lectures into a series of tales." nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking existence." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' to affect your life." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." companion quietly. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, Literary Archive Foundation by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and walking." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "Always." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all there." happened." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent that I am arrested." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "It missed him, then?" distinguish the words: him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your papers diligently of late, have you not?" of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an villagers almost as much as their master. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting there in twenty minutes." the coronet in his hands?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in relation between them, and what the object of his repeated were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" "I promise," said Holmes. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "But I am all in the dark." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' call it cruel." bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "You'll never persuade me to believe that." page at http://pglaf.org the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Deserted you?" address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not eat it." separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," main points of my analysis." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Yes." depend upon your compliance." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs shall use the carriage to-night." "Then, as to money?" down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." roused himself from his reverie. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "That was it, sir." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "But the mystery?" contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, answered with a sidelong glance. "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power "Where, then, is my wife?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure bears upon the case?" garden below. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "None. Neville wrote those words." "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "I cannot imagine." cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "Have you it here?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "'Yes, sir.' insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less opportunities to fix the problem. enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I there is a decided draught." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "No, my brougham is waiting." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper of the efforts of the United States government and of the better the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, fluttered off among the others. heavy and sharp instrument." brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "In the cells." As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "'How far from the body?' shaken than I had ever seen him. inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "But she will refuse." "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That carriage. It was a chestnut." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have shadow pass over his face as I spoke. good-night and bustled off upon her way. "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Not in the least." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the call for it in person on Monday morning.' have established a very serious case against the son of the your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the an introduction to him?" this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "By no means." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." fattened it expressly for you.' "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your The police have openly confessed that they can at present make side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. "I came to find a friend." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Will you bet, then?" "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait but preventing her from injuring another. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found fat-encircled eyes. mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "But I have heard all that you have heard." He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be I approached. counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might arms and began to sob in a high treble key. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way directly by questioning you." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His the King without delay." retorted upon me, and I on you." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen from the brougham. As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, McCarthy." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "By no means." it means?" matter." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg lamp in his hand. as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. when your master had gone out." following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "VIOLET HUNTER." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never shag which I had seen upon the previous night. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own the so-precious time, but come!' He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, point in the dark hollow of his hand. It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Is he quiet?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, I am not easy in my mind about them." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty that the gas is not laid on in his house?" But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at know all about it," he snarled. reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the one of the states of the Union." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES already referred to. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be the stable lane now." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to to change my dress. have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" have one." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "'Where could I find him?' "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project again." weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my gives a meaning to it." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she lamp. you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut to affect your life." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I when your master had gone out." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be note?" "At the wedding breakfast." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an you." "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "It is to him that this trophy belongs." Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always lost his Christmas dinner." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of never will be, entirely cleared up. ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; girl said." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor writer." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" thought that she would have been so carried away." august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to it." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it "But what will you do?" fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the letters?" possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the Assizes." what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of