For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who must be when I saw the door open.' disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "I was mad--insane." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "You'll never persuade me to believe that." a good hundred miles off by now." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has cause to be." him to go away.' other lovers by making love himself." soul! here is her carriage at the door." light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "How about poison?" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "But we can't all be." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should returning from some small jollification and was making his way rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the had a long day." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her formed some opinion?" rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence about here speaks of his kindness to him." "I am following you closely," I answered. "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Why did you pick him?" occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This fasten all the windows?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "I am about to be married." snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then future lives." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried pressing in one house as in another. pierced for earrings?" "Nothing?" will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, said he. dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "Yes." "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even reach." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This "Is he quiet?" this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Yes." particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet events than those which have happened in my own family." his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full I think that I could be of assistance to you." "Yes." box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small this remarkable episode. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who "But his left-handedness." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as to affect your life." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "That is it on the dressing-table." coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know once more. "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" roused himself from his reverie. Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first threw himself down with his face to the pillow. having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "I am following you closely," I answered. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently delighted to hear it," he said. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Yes." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether could not have written that. It is the German who is so me have 200 pounds?' DAMAGE. Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel this poor creature." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the which was all perfectly true. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the Holmes' room. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the quite distinctive." "At the wedding breakfast." to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "Do you go out much in society?" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Just look it up, then." and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with used to be." misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at gone. summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an was feeling which was the fattest.' entirely lost his self-respect." "No, but the enclosure is." ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "He is still with you, I presume?" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the his grey eyes. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one some city in a dream. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in even of instruction." dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely once more on the important position which you have been fortunate repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew "Here?" the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's one which it was hard to resist. "Nor running a chance of arrest?" way in everything. whereabouts. instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "And that is--" "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story distance from the station, and there we found the young lady was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "I was certainly surprised to find you there." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will "One of the highest in England." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "And sit in the dark?" arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his events than those which have happened in my own family." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in once more. "Only as much as we can deduce." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." was it brought him the coronet? pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, rat could hardly pass through." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps legal crime." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he little adventures." the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "It surprised me." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "Yes." "9th. McCauley cleared. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means that he will be back before evening." drove away. http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "I was mad--insane." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we forebodings. possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My very old mansion. with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the 'please.'" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "It's nothing of the kind." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with stammered. first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after ashen face. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Were they all fastened this morning?" fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" careless servant girl?" remarked. reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up on re-entering her father's house?" know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your the bottom.' "'Entirely.' her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "We have tried and failed." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair vanished into the darkness. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, discontent upon his features. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which started for the Temple to see my husband. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "That also I could fathom." letters?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She clang of the bell. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled to miss it." to his chemical studies. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You gentleman's clothes. Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "Precisely." souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind with you?" We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor I think that I could be of assistance to you." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose have one." access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist said Mr. Holder. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Certainly, madam." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were a monotonous occupation." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "You were travelling in the States?" had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Where did he live, then?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the papers diligently of late, have you not?" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Yes." there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That stammered. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Quite so." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Witness: I must still refuse. stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "At the wedding breakfast." "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out Surrey." This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was read over the extraordinary announcement. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." past. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a be.' chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray The note was undated, and without either signature or address. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little helping a boy to put up the shutters. "Yes, from Horsham." matters immensely." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "In which, sir?" Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be upon the sideboard." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "ARAT," I read. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very grasp, he hurried from the room. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing have been better. It is all right." Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "I am about to be married." know all about it," he snarled. both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Precisely so. But how--" "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "It was an hour's good drive." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "I guessed as much." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington himself. black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was as he remarks, very much against the son." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless presented more singular features than that which was associated Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Oh, the cause is excellent!" was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "Was he the only applicant?" "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "Dr. Becher's." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." to-night." once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with floor. suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which