there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Well, some hundreds of times." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the wedding?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to "Never to return." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of whatever might befall. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Do you receive much company?" he asked. London for the present?" 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Yes, he did." into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the papers on the sundial.'" outside. "Will you bet, then?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white DAMAGE. away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "It's nothing of the kind." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "And that is--" there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "'About the same.' Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right then?" exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "But you were on a friendly footing?" them?" which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to me upon any point which I do not make clear." quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am pressing in one house as in another. of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive there were one or two details which were new to me. But the imbecility!" he cried. "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The of the one which your family is now devouring." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his was shining brightly. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we key of the affair now." I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is I. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' here." "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "I warn you that they are very incomplete." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I me." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open before the coroner and the police-court." fattened it expressly for you.' wall." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Did your wife hear all this?" "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "I cannot imagine." British barque "Sophy Anderson", of the singular adventures of the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking be there in time for your coming." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the breakfast." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' thin legs towards the fire. fattened it expressly for you.' A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "He is dead," cried several voices. rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." DISSOLVED. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "But what is it you wish?" "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this what I may call a really hard day's work." occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "No. His orders were to stay in the house." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal once more for Briony Lodge. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I in darkness. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences chemical work which was so dear to him. geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the simple cases which are so extremely difficult." better in every way that they should make their position a little "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP very old mansion. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had his face. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done The summons was a brief and urgent one. in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the digesting their breakfasts at home." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "Yes." even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "I have seen the police." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been was already answered. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the cigars in the box." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester which are rolled in Rotterdam." "An enemy?" threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an depend upon your compliance." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. "Your presence might be invaluable." gone. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of over with notes and figures. that you saw all that I did." theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her him!" What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "And the cigar-holder?" IS "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between bird of prey. might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." power." sneer upon his pale face. "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "If so, much may have happened between." you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "May I see it?" hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it Lee, in the county of Kent." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "No. His orders were to stay in the house." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not the child." himself. "His face fell immediately. "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking to-night's adventure." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "But I am all in the dark." residence of the great financier. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "You heard nothing yourself last night?" British peeress.'" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "I know where it is." owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "But how?" Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a of the vacancies.' uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with what is your own theory as to what took place?" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our know all about it," he snarled. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three entirely devoid of interest." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the sooner or later she must fall a victim. not personally threatened." matter." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have "The Cedars?" "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "When did she vanish, then?" "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "No bad?" as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my affection." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "By no means." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very key turn in the lock." father's young wife. having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with stammered. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Countess of Morcar's?" "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You bedroom door." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "Quite so." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these what do you think they found in the pockets?" struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without of it with the greatest attention. "Did you become engaged then?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the stable lane now." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "'What would be the hours?' I asked. at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of must compliment you." harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." "Not I." where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable and it need not interfere very much with one's other which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the My friend smiled. "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "My Mary? Impossible!" dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Very murderous indeed." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story done what I asked you, Jones?" enter Dr. Roylott's room." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main call the police, let the police find what they can.' We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical "It is half-past ten now." orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the directors, with the result that you have seen." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." anything to a woman, for she would have her way." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Did you observe the colour?" shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an together. already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "No, I am descending." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Witness: It was. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "It surprised me." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "'Yes, it was gone.' "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Witness: It was. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a name is different." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and was a lad." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to there were so many in the whole country as were brought together "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "My private note-paper." mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is I approached. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to security.' For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "'Quite sure, dad.' "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then these bleak autumnal evenings." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about golden eyeglasses. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "What have you to say now?" "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New