"Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for matter." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long "You think so, too?" "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." she to prove their authenticity?" platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of unkempt, staring out at me. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "I cannot think." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Yes?" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that "It was a confession," I ejaculated. "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "'Ten to two.' "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind imbecility!" he cried. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other people don't know." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." in the port of London." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell them?" play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and I approached. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part discontent upon his features. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the companion imperturbably. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom which it had come upon my father." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon "Why? What do you mean?" nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and was already answered. Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and better grown goose." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my "One horse?" interjected Holmes. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "And why?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope of." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend a suggestive one." beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I anything to a woman, for she would have her way." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the advice." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short respectable self." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with friend's singular character. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of been deceived." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." business came to an end." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was "'I am sure that I do not know.' "That you are never beaten." his face. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a written, and locked the door of the office after me. tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "And how have you succeeded?" was shining brightly. "Was the window open?" roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to and it need not interfere very much with one's other "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my "I say that I have solved it." Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I are, I think, all that we need." believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "That is not always so easy." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you following enigmatical notices: have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous out of this horrible affair." doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at one else, I think." photograph a cabinet?" "Dark enough and sinister enough." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "How did you trace it, then?" august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 the nursery. o'clock is it?" Lestrade of Scotland Yard." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Only as much as we can deduce." There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "BALLARAT." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the wife's character?" words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "If so, much may have happened between." the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged ventilator." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Won't it ring?" "My Mary? Impossible!" want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "Yes." without a word or a look. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the outbreak?" reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "Yes." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, mystery." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to will take you up to see the machine.' arrested. You then--" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark this man was intellectual?" way in everything. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." "That's no good." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that dates and names. "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as shaken than I had ever seen him. few hundred pounds.' window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to was a loud and authoritative tap. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "Then you may be so with me." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and triumphant cloud from his cigarette. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant dead, shall be safe with us." "He might." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any his face which made him a very different person to the round, "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight shoulder. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where imbecility!" he cried. "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and easy-going way." "Ha! you find it so?" his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that late!' upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my fluttered off among the others. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend once more on the important position which you have been fortunate characteristics, but those are the more obvious." connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his it right.' headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may gone. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could furiously. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "Very truly yours, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off not interfere, come what may. You understand?" on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, interested in these little problems, and since you are good years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "Was he the only applicant?" of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I "You think so, too?" Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "By no means." Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger society." fire. You quite follow me?" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "Entirely." signal between you and your father? flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. for and were ordered to this address. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another ran thus: Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an of this gang." "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried and a shock of very red hair. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I have hopes." de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "We must sit without light. He would see it through the be best to do. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "Of Friday, June 19th." "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "None." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun this remarkable episode. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "Not in a good cause." "The knees of his trousers." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "I was afraid that you were engaged." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "That is easily got." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in coat-tails." it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire individual and becomes the badge of a society." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "How did you deduce the select?" must be when I saw the door open.' must compliment you." matter over." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten Holmes." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her "Well?" his grey eyes. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no round with crates and massive boxes. III. "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil bedroom door." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "'About the same.' "'I am sure that I do not know.' have had none more fantastic than this." The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, companion imperturbably. "Yes." train from Paddington which would bring you there at about owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he closely." downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "But who is he?" bill, which interests me deeply." and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the companion. What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at sound at heart." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of morning." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." posted to-day." attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting power." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "I will not look." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The "I will, Miss Turner." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "And Irene Adler?" former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any flock.' process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the not, dad?" she asked. "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I flock.' against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "I guessed as much." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more I think that I could be of assistance to you." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a guilty one." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to gone. "But I have heard all that you have heard." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since knowledge of the world." "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, carried out of court." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very