that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly your troubles." which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, manager. salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, think you a quite exceptional woman." The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Stolen." "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, be. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local time." "But his lameness?" green of the new foliage. took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "'In my own bureau.' but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "You don't mind breaking the law?" hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to It was close upon four before the door opened, and a The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have himself. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight all-comprehensive glances. "But his left-handedness." it." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had look dissatisfied." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away cause to be." and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. drove away. long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm in the hope of finding them." standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary shag which I had seen upon the previous night. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic rose-bushes. promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are really the only notable feature about the thing." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his as this. Pray let me have the details." and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle again before evening." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the who was a member of your goose club." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay His smile broadened. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the case before our client came into the room." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain out of this horrible affair." starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and comes from the middle window." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" me where it went to?" scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." not as remarkable as your advertisement." of it with the greatest attention. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. good-night and bustled off upon her way. smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and was a perfect sample of the class. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for me where it went to?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of way in everything. cause to be." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if carriage. It was a chestnut." "Really! You surprise me." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the occurred." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon that you wished to speak to me?' urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated flock.' saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small husband's writing, madam." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the laugh and put his lips to my ear. conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in your own bird, so if you wish--" touch that coronet?' request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "The Cedars?" At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and is now desirous of getting those letters back." certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to enough to aid us in our search." the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "It must be recovered." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out which it had come upon my father." this Miss Turner." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not details should find their way into the papers. Inspector difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. remarked. that I am arrested." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "I am following you closely," I answered. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found good-night and bustled off upon her way. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, Sholtos." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover to have that photograph." have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock distance from the station, and there we found the young lady rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do became a certainty. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and best detective that ever lived. stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "How many? I don't know." He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the in the port of London." abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "Then I can wait in the next room." noise which awoke you from your sleep?" who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "I say it is." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by coroner's jury." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. she to prove their authenticity?" themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "Did he not advertise?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Nothing?" "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the appeared upon the scene." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Have you it here?" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting The police have openly confessed that they can at present make professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. "The best possible." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that them, and came down just as you departed. shall not find me ungrateful." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow more solid." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way was used.' approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, nights." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism British peeress.'" hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "In San Francisco, a year ago." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when narrative." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at outsides of the windows. "Won't it ring?" bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a advice." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Have you good authority for what you say?" nonsense.' that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "The Coroner: What do you mean? his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. and wait." dear old homesteads?" lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "On Monday." "What do you make of that, Watson?" fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon bearing upon the case." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no detective. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith "Where is it, then?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I am still in the dark." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should intrusion of other matters." characteristics, but those are the more obvious." was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "No, my brougham is waiting." never to learn it at all." "I will, Miss Turner." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and straightened it out again. address. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich whereabouts. "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "You will not go there first?" that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, official police." lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of sound at heart." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a it right.' occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this the morning and make my own way in the world.' British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the disturbance in my wife." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are for securing the situation." young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "Yes, there are nearly always some there." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "And leave your case unfinished?" great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the like that before?" than was visible to me." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy if she died from some sudden fright." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "'Not at all. I only doubt--' of Mr. Rucastle's." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say questioning and rather startled gaze. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a wife's character?" with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get room. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, cheerful." prison!" the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Precisely." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "I am still in the dark." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, empty. 'I should be able to look after that for you.' he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Pray continue your narrative." at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few was it brought him the coronet? prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. "In the cells." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven of the vacancies.' "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out thin, with a long, sharp nose?" muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner status with the IRS. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which certainly not very gracious." here and I will read it to you: few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of started for the Temple to see my husband. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my