"Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "But what is it you wish?" "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the this man was intellectual?" from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "And now?" He raised his hand. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but hour?' that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the said I. great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you least a fellow-countryman. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I "I am following you closely," I answered. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and examination of the premises, but without finding anything which ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, and I shall be with you presently." his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the ourselves in the office." "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would she used." was used.' scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "I cannot imagine." reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there ill-usage at the hands of fortune. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what been lifted and conveyed somewhere." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is that you can jump it.' I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. just called myself is not exactly my own." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's she to prove their authenticity?" call you and give you the chance." respectable self." the room while you explain this matter?" narrative." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." the armchair which I pushed forward for him. reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have details should find their way into the papers. Inspector remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." Gutenberg-tm License. some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. companion. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a hardly wander." "But how?" What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him outsides of the windows. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a into her hand at the door and which lured her within their fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was gbnewby@pglaf.org "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "I was certainly surprised to find you there." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would window when the police appeared." and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was geese which you supplied to the Alpha." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "A confidential servant?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never intrusion of other matters." will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw "Where, then?" frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "My dear Holmes!" not personally threatened." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "The best possible." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "It is very kind of you." possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open James Windibank. Voilà tout!" at my own good fortune. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "And I." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his towards the blaze. alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly geese which you supplied to the Alpha." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at during which he might have communicated with his friend the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten wedding?" "It looks newer than the other things?" "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Well?" familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "No, I think that I'll take it." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the sparkled upon his finger. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied morning." "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That redistribution. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so she slowly sank and died without having recovered her ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose that "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "I should be immensely obliged to you." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by existence." the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'Quite sure, dad.' It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "Did you become engaged then?" good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "'Yes, sir.' generous with you in money matters.' strode off upon his way. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." This is what he says: dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "That sounds a little paradoxical." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one suspect him." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "I have my revolver," said I. I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "My dear Holmes!" fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "Pray let us have it, for all that." that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Nor running a chance of arrest?" her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "And for present expenses?" "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and appeared upon the scene." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "On Monday." very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than galvanised. chamber." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and speckled band?" greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Dirty?" suddenly upon us." "I guessed as much." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a at my remark. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been very peculiar words of the dying woman?" bill, which interests me deeply." instituted." near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Never." "Always." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' you give your casting vote to?" the window, rose as we entered. certainly not very gracious." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than certainly do as you advise." a little more before I quite committed myself. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "Did you become engaged then?" "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "So I heard. You have him here?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could "Quite so." "What office?" than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "What is it, then--a fire?" "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all digesting their breakfasts at home." "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began not as remarkable as your advertisement." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler "'About the same.' did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the horse could go." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "What do you mean?" "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "I will not look." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a never to learn it at all." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Again Holmes raved in the air. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Seven!" I answered. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large upon the sideboard." the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "It looks newer than the other things?" in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will whole matter to your consideration." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn she has been waylaid. There has been no result." to affect your life." not within a twentieth part of the market price." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay outside." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" as he remarks, very much against the son." the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." useful material for showing traces. The double line a little aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he friend's singular character. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two cost them two and thirty pounds." maid will bring up your coffee." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Where does the thing come from?' sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of His smile broadened. answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "In San Francisco, a year ago." over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "That was it, sir." "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "And now?" He raised his hand. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Where is it, then?" error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "None." figure." "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "Did you become engaged then?" Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did he. Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has he bowed and left the room without another word. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous think that any burglar could have done. himself in a perplexing position. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue noting anything else of interest. "And the murderer?" case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "And I say east," said my patient. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time signal between you and your father? "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford "We were both in the photograph." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. chance." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his very old mansion. paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Was she in good spirits?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is he bowed and left the room without another word. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. what I may call a really hard day's work." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable that I may have something better before very many minutes are here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." the warnings." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you lips." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of appointment with me for six o'clock?" and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was been lifted and conveyed somewhere." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "No, distinctly professional." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up back into the street. you." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "Have you it here?" "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. business?" "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an "Yes." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin