to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "One?" "10th. John Swain cleared. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "Oh, the cause is excellent!" place, I think that there is good ground to think that the was lame." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "Then you may be so with me." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his three fields round his house, and there he would take his of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises tension within him. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are him. beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own that I can to serve you." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. the south-west, I see." whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and frequently gained my first real insight into the character of through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered shaken than I had ever seen him. other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "On your arm?" my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your nothing with him." were new raised from a basin. 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "Come in!" said Holmes. unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in constraint." in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the so-precious time, but come!' sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of been able to understand it, in a very few words. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he Lestrade of Scotland Yard." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of indiscretion." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come had this final quarrel? for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the in. and laid it on the table. wife's character?" daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Not I." them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, heavy and sharp instrument." "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "Where did you address your letters, then?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before father's place of business?" without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be what I may call a really hard day's work." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Countess of Morcar's?" the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "I was sure that I might rely on you." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the been with you?" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as "I guessed as much." there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens me. "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey to-morrow." "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns might have a private word with us. Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Entirely." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his said he at last. wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "A confidential servant?" she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "Just look it up, then." reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "In heaven's name, what for?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss least a fellow-countryman. "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "You are certainly joking, Holmes." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, something of him before." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Indeed! Whose, then?" green of the new foliage. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, locked. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to you give your casting vote to?" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "How long did she speak to this Alice?" "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." highroad, where all traces were lost. "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." as this. Pray let me have the details." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "But it has twice been burgled." 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely most interesting one." vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm had a long day." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "I say it is." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare served to weaken the effect. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "Yes, all." "Stolen, then." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible fishes. morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress Sutherland?" playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "Just look it up, then." before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "If I can be of use." Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." sake, don't!" which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the cigars in their mouths. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then as the one I chose?' and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "But how?" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove lids now and glanced across at his visitor. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and sound at heart." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small there in twenty minutes." seen the man in the road." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "My Mary? Impossible!" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" villagers almost as much as their master. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." of the vacancies.' grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "It goes to the housekeeper's room." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "Yes." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then prison!" fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Then I do not see the point." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was is a common subject for conversation. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so happened." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "And the murderer?" their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." whether it answered to the description of any of their original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "Yes?" then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but me what he had done with the three missing stones. confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than and that he would see to anything that turned up. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you all?" accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue writer." "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography I am not easy in my mind about them." upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings call for protection in the marriage market, for the present since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "He slept on the premises." possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of existence." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "A confidential servant?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after and that he would see to anything that turned up. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any go back?" McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge nights." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and whole matter to your consideration." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John such attractions and accomplishments?' dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your burst out into a roar of laughter. think that he is innocent?" long narrative. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "'I have already given you my word.' "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining there when the Rucastles went away." what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon papers on the sundial.'" the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from occupations.' comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the clang of the bell. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton later, upon the night of May 2nd." have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and you do it in twenty minutes!' Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "You have a clue?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Well, some hundreds of times." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "I have my revolver," said I. ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my plantation.' and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "'Yes, I promise.' "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it McCarthy's innocence. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through at my remark. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief envelope. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived."