if she died from some sudden fright." "Then I do not see the point." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to "And now?" I asked. the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Always." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a appeal." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet to go into your room and bar your shutters?" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met at my remark. the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "Absolutely none." "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back before, for it was considerably after midnight. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "No legal papers or certificates?" "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning the coronet at all injured?" what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It returning from some small jollification and was making his way broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "'Very good.' recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching late." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety help us in this matter." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness way in everything. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "I am sure." space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some II. have been better. It is all right." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white salesman. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite "Yes." "You have but to name it." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Deserted you?" and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought Eyford at 11:15.' events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "I have hopes." "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the certainly do as you advise." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "No." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' our word." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the that he has suffered." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the locked." be sorry for having acted so harshly." "I am sure." when you have done it." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "I was afraid that you were engaged." lectures into a series of tales." I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and sufficient punishment." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward relief. returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had them, and came down just as you departed. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it generous with you in money matters.' second window is the one that I jumped from." respectable self." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "We were both in the photograph." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers better in every way that they should make their position a little you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "Yesterday." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer client, rising. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have "No." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said DISSOLVED. annoyance, but no jest. might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "In the cells." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "If I can be of use." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I residence of the great financier. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, said he. Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in about. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Yes, all." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "And I to find an enemy." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Have you it here?" Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint down. on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, cheerful." the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the date of his supposed suicide." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "Then I am your man." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. hands. note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I derbies." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs have got?" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Nothing." chance." "'I am sure if I had known--' "I have my revolver," said I. the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. most interesting one." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." and put his glass in his pocket. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he yourselves in at night?" On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at his huge brown hands. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked train.' abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "That is it on the dressing-table." ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his think that any burglar could have done. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Foundation "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, wedding?" which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might Holmes' face clouded over. ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the Heh?' Countess of Morcar's?" implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when I. dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "You are hungry," I remarked. My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a morning." "On Monday." assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to will he say when he returns?" appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "My last client of the sort was a king." loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began was keenly on my guard against him. Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon tension within him. observed. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat what is your own theory as to what took place?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out examine." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "What is it?" thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "My photograph." were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the have one." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I ready to-morrow?' empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and depend upon your compliance." after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa him. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to Pope's Court. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have shall use the carriage to-night." other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the tapping his fingers upon the table. "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and friend's singular character. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "I am in hopes that she does." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. answered with a sidelong glance. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. returned to France?" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Precisely." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "And it is--" been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered get her out of the way." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside her also." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "One of the highest in England." possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "You did not overhear what they said?" the south-west, I see." evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in details." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very beg that you will break it off." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare which was all perfectly true. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me whereabouts. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "Texas, I think." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "I came to find a friend." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "No." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "But what will you do?" to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Certainly." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem him." "What then?" dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel exactly what you advise." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "None." "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a occupations.' been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very noble correspondent could be. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would