the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst friends, not even his own brother. upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "What! Had he lost his wife?" been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "We were both in the photograph." "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said directors have had misgivings upon the subject." young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not Where does the thing come from?' snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with take the flies, but not before." "'Yes, sir.' "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "You horrify me." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a to affect your life." could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different matter." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. weighed down with some great anxiety. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps the inquest, and which are worth considering." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email like gravel from a pit.' the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at Serpentine Avenue. that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "But of what society?" that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "And your father? Did you tell him?" "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "What will you say?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for forecastle of an emigrant ship. IS probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. silent! Oh, he will be silent!' we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is look upon these things in a different way." thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, read it out to me." monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little than to us. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "I cannot imagine." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "I will do it." not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "What steps will you take?" I asked. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." The note was undated, and without either signature or address. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "He disappeared so suddenly." has little to do with my story." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with digesting their breakfasts at home." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't meanly of me." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which children over to America with him, so that I found myself without come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself silent! Oh, he will be silent!' to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Texas, I think." these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his completely overtopped every other consideration that we both know that the truth is known." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the little opening for the ventilator is." something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly upon the shelf for the interim." blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at his grey eyes. whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not have one." "Dr. Becher's." reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "Yes, certainly." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, have got?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed tail." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I already been minutely examined." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "'Certainly not.' sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "What will you say?" took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing dear old homesteads?" from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "That is unusual in a young girl." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be "'You cannot say what it was?' Farm upon the left." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life "BALLARAT." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet them, and came down just as you departed. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did new duties?' means taking possession of that which another person has a prior made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the three of the beryls in it, was missing. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "It looks newer than the other things?" I have it here in my museum." regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. me. had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' disappearance of these gems?" this as likely?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm of the way of danger. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "When did it break out?" the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend chance at all." mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line bled considerably." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my ago." in a friendly supper." lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate papers diligently of late, have you not?" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Have you it here?" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "But the mystery?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as constraint." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon in one or two places in England?' "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his she has been waylaid. There has been no result." informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" "I say it is." "Where is it, then?" "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such me. You must get home instantly and act." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "What, then, did Peterson do?" them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked troubles have been weighing upon his mind. assist you in forming an opinion." Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Never." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given mysterious business." "Never." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back you want, then?' passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned and the whole place is in a blaze." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." his cane at the bell-pull. kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Pray do so." "'I am sure that I do not know.' real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is as he remarks, very much against the son." up this clue while it is still hot." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "I cannot tell." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' do." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with future lives." present." "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been least a most suspicious remark." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." may never be exposed to such a temptation." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Very murderous indeed." very old mansion. breakfast?" the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "My dear Holmes!" could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Very much so." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. and it need not interfere very much with one's other "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be leave you to your papers for a little." Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for for the market.' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his will he say when he returns?" "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "One?" "It was a confession," I ejaculated. livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "You have the photograph?" very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "It is true that I have been generally successful." go back?" at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few man. Surrey." I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but than was visible to me." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. written. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day present." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open had this final quarrel? Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. burst into a hearty fit of laughter. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "He said that you could solve anything." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of approach us with offers to donate. as he folded up the epistle. Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we of the way of danger. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the of Fenchurch Street." "But she will refuse." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "'Where to?' consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." that threaten you." grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, breakfast?" opportunities to fix the problem. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "It is true that I have been generally successful." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found is," said he presently: by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary should be taken.' noting anything else of interest. "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "Yes, that is the Crown." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with your bag." British peeress.'" Does that suggest anything?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to open." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who death." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, in. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as ran thus: "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "'I am sure that I do not know.' the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "Yes." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter that before taking the final step I should like to submit the someone who had been in Australia." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "I will, Miss Turner." pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year